The Indian fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah has been nominated for the ICC Player of the Month award for the second time in a row. He got nominated for the second time due to his brilliant performance in the recently concluded Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia in December 2024. On Tuesday, the ICC released the list of December Men's and Women's Player of the Month, in which Bumrah's name was included.
Bumrah ended the year 2024 with the bang the same way he started it. In the three Tests he played in December, he took 22 wickets. His bowling in the series against Australia was outstanding. In the Adelaide Test, Bumrah bowled a spell of 4/61, while in the Brisbane Test, he destroyed the Australian batting with figures of 6/76. But his best performance came in the Melbourne Test, where he took 9 wickets to put India in a strong position in the series.
This performance made him the player with the highest ICC rating points among Indian bowlers. He is now extremely close to winning his second "Player of the Month" trophy. Also, he is considered a strong contender for the 2024 "Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy".
Bumrah has performed brilliantly in the last three series in the Army countries where he was named Player of the Series on the 2021 tour of England. He received Player of the Series award in South Africa in 2023-24 and now with 32 wickets in Australia, this is his third consecutive Player of the Series award in the Army countries.
Cummins and Dane Patterson are in the race
This time the names of Australian skipper Pat Cummins and South African fast bowler Dane Patterson are also included in the nomination list. Pat Cummins put up an all-round performance in December, scoring 144 runs and taking 17 wickets. In the Adelaide Test, he took 5/57 to destroy the Indian innings and lead his team to a big win by 10 wickets. At the same time, he bowled brilliantly in the Melbourne Test and won Australia by 184 runs.
South Africa's Dane Patterson also performed excellent well. He took 13 wickets in two Tests winning the Player of the Match title with a spell of 5/71 in the second Test against Sri Lanka.
Jasprit Bumrah stands at the top spot in the race of winning the ICC Player of the Month Award. His consistency and brilliant performances are taking Indian cricket to new heights.