The International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced the nominees for the Men’s Player of the Month for November 2024, with three fast bowlers making it to the list. Jasprit Bumrah of India, Haris Rauf of Pakistan, and Marco Jansen of South Africa have been nominated for their outstanding performances.
Jasprit Bumrah took the center stage in November. The fast bowler, who led India in the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar series, produced his best performance to this date with an eight-wicket haul in Perth as India won by 295 runs. Bumrah’s effort was a game-changer as he took 5/30 in the first innings and restricted Australia to just 104 runs. He subsequently took three more in the second innings, helping his side defend a monumental total of 534 for a memorable victory. He won himself the Man-of-the Match award for an all-round brilliance.
Rauf was the other performer who played a significant role in Pakistan’s historic victory in their ODI series against Australia, which was their first series win on Australian soil in 22 years. The right-arm pacer started the series with a brilliant three-wicket haul in Melbourne, but it was in the second ODI where he really stole the show, claiming a match-winning five-wicket haul to level the series. Rauf continued his fine form in the final match, taking two more wickets to finish the series as the top wicket-taker with 10 wickets at an economy rate of just five. This performance helped Pakistan win the series 2-1. Rauf’s brilliance did not stop here as he took five wickets in the following T20I series also, including a four-wicket haul in the second T20I. He ended the month by taking three more wickets in three ODIs against Zimbabwe, thereby taking his wickets tally to 18 wickets across all formats.
South Africa’s Marco Jansen too had a splendid month where he showed contributions in all formats. In the T20I series against India, Jansen was effective with the ball as he took a wicket in each of the first three matches. It was his batting that grabbed attention as he blasted a quick 54 off 17 balls in the third T20I and then an unbeaten 29 in the fourth match. However, South Africa lost the series by 3-1. The best performance of Jansen came in the first Test against Sri Lanka in Durban, where he took career-best match figures of 11/86. His seven-wicket haul in the first innings was devastating enough to bowl Sri Lanka out for just 42, the second-lowest total in Tests in the 21st century. He then took four more wickets in the second innings, and South Africa won by 233 runs.
All these three players have been crucial for the respective teams they play for and their performances in November have earned them a well-deserved place among the nominees for the ICC Men’s Player of the Month award.
With inputs from ANI