The International Cricket Council has revealed the names that made it to the top 4 list for the Men’s ODI Cricketer of the Year award and the main story is that only 1 non-Indian made it to the list and that exception is New Zealand. Daryl Mitchell. Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli and Mohammed Shami, for their incredible contribution to India’s success during the packed calendar year 2023, are likely to win the annual award.
Since the concept of giving the best ODI player an ICC individual award was introduced in 2004, Indians have won it the most, even if it took 4 years for an Indian to win it. Andrew Flintoff won the inaugural edition and his compatriot Kevin Pietersen won the next.
And after Micheal Hussey and Matthew Hayden in 2006 and 2007, the iconic MS Dhoni ended the wait and became the ODI Cricketer of the Year twice in a row in 2008 and 2009. Since then, Virat Kohli himself He has won twice (2012 and 2018). while captain Rohit Sharma won it the following year (2019).
It has been 5 years since an Indian won and it seems that the wait will not be longer. Any of Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli and Mohammad Shami will win and there is very little chance of Daryl Mitchell becoming the first Kiwi to win the award, despite scoring 1204 runs in 2023.
Kohli, Gill and Shami’s performances eclipse Daryl Mitchell’s efforts
Daryl was a key component for New Zealand in 2023 and without him they could not have reached the semi-finals. He was the Blackcaps’ second highest run scorer in the Cricket World Cup with 552 runs, behind left-hand batsman Rachin Ravindra with 578 runs. Daryl Mitchell’s average in the World Cup was 69.
Difficult fight to choose between Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill and Mohammed Shami
All 3 Indian nominations have performed exceptionally for the team at different times and on different occasions chosen to shine. Shubman Gill scored a lot of runs last year in ODIs and broke the ODI run records of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly in a season.
He scored 1584 runs at a terrifying average of 63.36, including 5 centuries, 1 double century and 8 half-centuries. Gill also scored 354 runs on India’s path to the final.
Their senior Virat Kohli, who will be vying for his third ICC ODI Men’s Cricketer of the Year, had a well-achieved year of his own in which he reclaimed his old self, breaking Sachin Tendulkar’s long-standing record, but it came at the expense. of the WTC final and the CWC final. If Virat Kohli had won them, it would have been the best performance by an ODI cricketer in a season.
However, Kohli finished 2023 with 1377 runs in 27 matches, an average of almost 75, and made the remaining 6 centuries needed to complete 50 Hundreds and surpass the legendary Sachin Tendulkar. He also finished as the leading run-scorer of CWC 2023 with 765 runs and 3 centuries.
Lastly, Mohammed Shami, who made an emergency entry into India’s XI in the World Cup, had a breakthrough campaign that included some incredible spells, figures and wickets. Shami took 43 wickets throughout 2023 in 19 matches and more than half of his wickets came during the World Cup.
That speaks to the kind of campaign he had, taking a five-wicket haul in his first outing at CWC 2023. Shami went on to pick 19 wickets in 6 matches, including a career-best 7 wickets. Although he failed to win the World Cup and shares commonalities with Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli, it remains to be seen if an Indian can finally touch an ICC trophy.
