The speed sensation from India, Jasprit Bumrah, has been awarded the Sir Garfield Sobers Award for the ICC Men’s Cricketer of the Year 2024. The 31-year-old pacer has been bestowed this honor ahead of the likes of Joe Root, Travis Head, and Harry Brook.
With this feat, Bumrah is the only fifth Indian to receive this award after Rahul Dravid (2004), Sachin Tendulkar (2010), Ravichandran Ashwin (2016) and Virat Kohli (2017,18).
Bumrah has been on a roll in 2024 and dominated the batters in all formats of the game. He was especially great in Tests and T20Is. He also played a key role in India’s success in the ICC T20 World Cup last year. He took 15 wickets at an average of 8.26 in the World Cup. He was also the player of the tournament for his performance in the 2024 T20 World Cup.
Just like T20Is, Bumrah has been exceptional in Test cricket as well. He aggregated 71 wickets in Test cricket in 2024. This tally was the second-best for Indian pacers after Kapil Dev. On the back of all these exceptional performances, he climbed the chart of Test rankings and now sits at number 1. He has also breached the 900-point rating barrier for the first time. His Test wicket tally stands at more than 200 wickets. For this extraordinary performance, he was also named the ICC Test Player of the Year.
He was the pick of the pacers in the recently concluded Border Gavaskar Trophy in Australia. He took 32 wickets in five test matches. While India lost the series 1-3, his performances in the series were crucial to India’s competitiveness.
ICC Men’s Test Team of the Year
Yashasvi Jaiswal (Ind), Ben Duckett (Eng), Kane Williamson (NZ), Joe Root (Eng), Harry Brook (Eng), Kamindu Mendis (SL), Jamie Smith (Eng) (wk), Ravindra Jadeja (Ind), Pat Cummins (Aus) (c), Matt Henry (NZ), Jasprit Bumrah (Ind)
ICC Men’s ODI Team of the Year
Saim Ayub (Pak), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (Afg), Pathum Nissanka (SL), Kusal Mendis (SL) (wk), Charith Asalanka (SL) (c), Sherfane Rutherford (WI), Azmatullah Omarzai (Afg), Wanindu Hasaranga (SL), Shaheen Shah Afridi (Pak), Haris Rauf (Pak), AM Ghazanfar (Afg)