Charismatic India opener Smriti Mandhana, was on Monday, named ICC Women’s ODI Cricketer of the Year for her phenomenal performance that saw the left-hander score tons of runs in 2024.
The India vice-captain, who was the ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year in 2018 and 2022, racked up 747 runs in 13 innings to set new career standards in ODIs.She put several batting stalwarts, including the likes of South Africa’s Laura Wolvaardt,
England’s Tammy Beaumont (554) and West Indies’ Hayley Matthews, to shade. Her tally was the highest among the leading run-getters in Women’s ODIs last year, way ahead of Wolvaardt (697), Beaumont (554) and Matthews (469). She scored four ODI centuries, a record in the women’s game, and found the boundary more than a hundred times in the year, hitting 95 fours and six maximums.
The 28-year-old cricketer’s runs came at an average of 57.86 and an impressive strike rate of 95.15. Some of her best innings came against high-calibre opposition, including her back-to-back centuries which guided India to a 3-0 series win against South Africa in June. Mandhana also smashed a ton in the series decider against New Zealand in October.
She went on to showcase her ability to dominate the best bowling in the world with another defiant century in Perth against Australia in a losing cause in December. Though Mandhana’s superb 105 at the WACA in Perth came in a losing cause, it was her effort that pushed the defending world champions closer to the target. Despite India struggling to score runs and wickets falling at the other end, Mandhana remained steadfast on a drying wicket unleashing her array of strokes, hitting 14 fours and one six in her impressive century, which came off 109 balls.
Meanwhile, Afghanistan all-rounder Azmatullah Omarzai, who took his team to a new level with his right-arm pace bowling and multi-faceted batting game, was on Monday named the ICC Men’s ODI Cricketer of the Year 2024. The 24-year-old built on an impressive 2023 to become one of the world’s leading One-Day International performers last year. Omarzai also enjoyed a strong year in T20Is and franchise cricket, but it was in ODIs where he proved most influential.
He finished the year as his national team’s second-highest run scorer behind Rahmanullah Gurbaz and second-highest wicket-taker behind AM Ghazanfar, with Afghanistan winning four of their five ODI series in 2024.
