ICC Player of the month is awarded to that cricketer who executed the best performances in that month. Every month ICC nominates 3 cricketers on the basis of their performances and then the independent ICC voting academy and fans vote and therefore the player of the month gets selected. Before 2021 ends let's have a look at the list of ICC men's Player of the month from January to November.

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1. Rishabh Pant

Rishabh pant kick-started 2021 by winning the ICC Player of the month in January. Rishab Pant, Joe Root, and Paul Stirling were shortlisted for the category. Pant's contribution in the test match against Australia was the potential reason behind his win. In the third test match against Australia Rishabh hit 97 runs and followed it up with 89 runs in the fourth Test match. The Indian wicket-keeper batter's performance helped India to register a victory as well.

2. Ravichandran Ashwin

Ravichandran Ashwin won the ICC men's player of the month award in February. Ashwin was tremendous in the 4-match test series against England. The Indian off-spinner scalped 24 wickets in February 2021. Not only this, but he also smashed a century in that month. He was awarded the man of the series award for his terrific performance.

Read also: Women's ODI World Cup 2022: India's schedule in the World Cup

3. Bhuvneshwar Kumar

Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rashid Khan, and Sean Williams were shortlisted for this category in March 2021. In the limited over series against England, Bhubaneswar impressed everyone with his bowling and wicket-taking skills. He started by picking up 6 wickets in the 3 ODI matches and then picked up 4 wickets in the 5 T20I matches.

Read also: South Africa vs India 2021-22: Virat Kohli is all set to play the ODI series in South Africa

4. Babar Azam

Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman, and Kushal Bhurtel were nominated for this prestigious category for the month of April. The Pakistani skipper played marvelously consistently against South Africa and bagged the award in his name. The month proved to be quite exciting for Babar as he surpassed Kohli and became the ICC ranked no. 1 batter in ODI Player rankings.

5. Mushfiqur Rahim

Mushfiqur Rahim won the ICC Player of the month for May 2021. He batted really well in a 3 match ODI series against Sri Lanka. The Bangladesh wicket-keeper batter hit 237 runs in the series which includes 125 runs in the second ODI match. Surprisingly, it was the first time when Bangladesh registered a victory against Sri Lanka in an ODI series.

Read also: Vijay Hazare Trophy: Most hundreds in a single season

6. Devon Conway

Devon Conway became the ICC Player of the month for June 2021. The Kiwi cricketer is the first-ever cricketer from his country to win this prestigious award. He was brilliant in the test match against England and surprisingly it was only his test debut. Devon smashed a double century in his debut match and also became the second New Zealand batter to reach this landmark in his debut test match. He continued his brilliance in the next two matches as well by smashing half-centuries. In the world test Championship final against India, he contributed well to the team.

7. Shakib Al Hasan

For the month of July, ICC nominated Mitchell Harsh, Shakib Al Hasan, and Hayden Walsh Jr. Shakib Al Hasan won the prestigious award for executive his skills and caliber in the best possible way. He played in the ODI series against Zimbabwe where he scored 145 runs and picked up 8 wickets. He moved on to his next T20I series and picked up 3 wickets at an economy of 7. Also, he played a one-off test match where he scalped 5 wickets including 4/82 in the first innings.

Read also: Vijay Hazare Trophy 2021-22: Pre-quarter finals fixture and schedule

8. Joe Root

England captain Joe Root won the ICC men's player of the year the month for August 2021. The England skipper was phenomenal and consistent in the first 3 test matches against India. These matches were also a part of the ICC World Test Championship series. Joe aggregated more runs in the first 3 test matches than the combination of the next 3 highest run scorers of England. After having a terrific August, he reached the top of MRF Tyres ICC Men's Test Rankings for batters on 1st September as well. He surpassed Virat Kohli, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, and Kane Williams to reach the no. 1 spot from the no. 5 spot.

9. Sandeep Lamichhane

September witnessed some of the best performances. Nasum Ahmed, Jaskaran Malhotra, and Sandeep Lamichhane were nominated by the ICC because of their groundbreaking performances. Lastly, Sandeep won the title. The Nepal leg spinner had a great September because of his brilliant performance in the ICC Cricket World Cup League 2. He played in 6 ODI matches where he picked up 3 wickets at an average of 7.38 and an economy of 3.17. He was phenomenal against Papua New Guinea with match figures of 4/35 and 6/11. Once again he proved himself against Oman with a match figure of 4/18.

Read also: South Africa vs India: Most Runs in Test for India against South Africa

10. Asif Ali

Asif Ali became the ICC Player of the month for October 2021 after his performance in the T20 World Cup 2021. He scored 52 runs in 3 matches at a strike rate of 273.68. People started recognizing him after his stellar performance of 27* runs in just 12 balls. His innings helped Pakistan to defeat New Zealand. His next performance against Afghanistan made him everyone's favorite when he hit 4 sixes in the 19th over as Pakistan needed 24 runs in the last 2 overs to register a victory. Lastly, he remained unbeaten in all matches it played in T20 World Cup 2021

11. David Warner

ICC Player of the month for November 2021 is the Australian opener, David Warner. He might have had some low moments and instances in the previous months but he reached the peak in the T20 World Cup 2021. Warner was simply tremendous at the marquee event where he aggregated 289 runs in 7 matches at an average of 48.16 and a strike rate of 146.70. He showed a great performance in the final night as well where he smashed a half-century against New Zealand. His stellar performance helped the team to win the Player of the Tournament award at the T20 World Cup 2021 as well. Without a single thought, he was one of the biggest reasons behind Australia winning their maiden T20 World Cup title

Pink Ball Test, a five-day match contested under lights like a One Day International, was first held in November 2015 after a lot of trials in First-Class cricket across the globe. Day-Night Test was introduced to add more to the longer format as white-ball especially the T20s has taken over the game with crowds preferring the shorter format.

Also Read: Most Runs for India in Pink Ball Test

India are set to play their second Test match of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Adelaide. After winning the Perth Test match by a massive margin of 295 runs, India will face Australia against the pink ball, under lights. So before the start of the series, let's take a look at the Indian bowlers who took the most wickets in the Pink Ball Test. 

1# Ravichandran Ashwin | 18 Wickets

Ravichandran Ashwin is the highest wicket taker for India in the pink ball test. He appeared in all 4 of India's matches, taking 18 wickets at an average of 13.83. In his Test career, he played 105 matches, in which he took 536 wickets at an average of 23.95. Meanwhile, he has taken 5 wickets in 37 innings. Ashwin did not play in the first Test of the current series.

2# Axar Patel | 14 Wickets

Left-arm spinner Axar Patel has played only 2 matches with the pink ball, taking 14 wickets with a strong average of 9.14. In 2021, he took a total of 11 wickets in the day-night test played against England in Ahmedabad. He took 5 wickets in both the innings. In his Test career so far, Axar has taken 55 wickets in 14 matches at an average of 19.34.

3# Umesh Yadav | 11 Wickets

Indian fast bowler Umesh Yadav has also had a strong performance in the day-night test. The Indian fast bowler has taken 11 wickets in 2 matches with an excellent average of 15.54. In his Test career, Umesh has played 57 matches, in which he has taken 170 wickets at an average of 30.95. He is currently out of the Indian team. Umesh played his last Test in 2023.

4# Jasprit Bumrah | 10 Wickets

Jasprit Bumrah, who led the Indian team on the first test, has taken 10 wickets in the pink ball test. Bumrah has taken 10 wickets in 3 day-night tests. He took 5 wicket haul against Sri Lanka. Bumrah is currently on Australia tour. He took a total of 8 wickets in the first Perth Test of the series.

5# Ishant Sharma | 10 Wickets

Ishant Sharma has also taken 10 wickets each in the Pink Ball Test. Ishant took 10 wickets in 2 tests. He took a total of 9 wickets in the match against Bangladesh. He is currently out of the Indian team. Ishant played his last Test in 2021.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar, the Indian pacer who last played for the Indian team in 2022, recently became the first Indian pacer to take more than 300 T20 wickets during the Syed Mushtaq Ali Tournament 2024. Captaining the Uttar Pradesh team, the medium pacer showcased even at his age, how he can be good with the ball in hand. In the UP vs Himachal Pradesh match, he claimed his 300 T20 wicket. 

Indian bowlers with most T20 wickets

As Bhuvneshwar Kumar became the first Indian pacer to achieve feat, we will give the list of Indian bowlers with most T20 wickets. 

4. Bhuvneshwar Kumar | 304 T20 wickets

The 35-year-old medium pacer has been one of the highest wicket-takers for India in T20I cricket. In T20 internationals for India, Bhuvnewshwar Kumar has taken 90 wickets in 87 T20I matches at an outstanding economy rate of 6.96, including two five-wicket hauls. 

In Indian Premier League, while playing for Pune Warriors and Sunrisers Hyderabad, Buvi has taken 181 wickets in 176 matches at an excellent economy rate of 7.56 runs per over. In total, Bhuvneshwar so far has taken 304 wickets in T20 cricket in 290 matches at 7.29 runs per over.

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He stands as the fourth highest wicket-taker among Indians in T20 cricket and is the only Indian fast bowler to take more than 300 wickets in shortest format of the game.

3. Ravichandran Ashwin | 310 T20 Wickets

A test legend in his own rights, Ravichandran Ashwin had started his career with the T20s. It was Chennai Super Kings who had found the spark in him which helped him gain the exposure to evantually get selected for India and flourish as an all-format bowler. The off-spinner from Tamil Nadu has played 324 T20 games so far in his career and took 324 wickets at an astonishing economoy rate of 7.06. 

In IPL, he has played for teams like CSK, Kings XI Punjab, Rajasthan Royals, Rising Pune Supergiants and Delhi Capitals along with playing for the Indian team and Tamil Nadu in his career. In his 212 IPL games, he has taken 180 wickets at 7.12 runs per over. For India, in T20Is, Ashwin has the off-spinner took 72 wickets in only 65 games. 

2. Piyush Chawla | 319 T20 Wickets

The leg spinner has been playing T20s since 2007 and has played a total 297 T20 matches so far in his career. In his career, he has taken 319 T20 wickets with an economy rate of 7.53. However, he only played 7 T20 internationals for India and took only 4 wickets for the country.

In the Indian Premier League, he has featured in 192 games for Chennai Super Kings, Kings XI Punjab, Kolkata Knight Riders, Mumbai Indians. Chawla has been one of the most successful bowlers in the tournament with 192 wickets with an economy rate of 7.96 runs per over.

Moreover, he has played for overseas teams like Sussex in Vitality Blast Tournament in England. 

1. Yuzvendra Chahal | 363 T20 Wickets

Yuzvendra Chahal is perhaps the most Indian successful bowlers in the shortest format of the game. The leg-spinner from Haryana started his career with IPL teams like Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore and made a name for yourself to get into the Indian team.

Chahal spent eight seasons with Royal Challengers Bangalore and with 113 wickets, is still their highest wicket-taker in Indian Premier League history. However, RCB decided not to retain him in the 2022 mega auction, and Chahal headed to Rajasthan Royals. 

In IPL 2025 Mega acution, he became the most expensive spinner in the tournament's history as Punjab Kings bought him for INR 18 cr. Till now, in IPL, Chahal has taken 205 wickets, and is the most successful bowler in the tournament's history. For India, he has played 80 T20I games and once was the highest wicket-taker for India in T20Is with 96 wickets.

After two days of exciting show auction in Jeddah, the ten Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises were able to pick their squad for the IPL 2025. Rishabh Pant came out as the most expensive player in IPL auction's history with a humongous INR 27 cr bid from Lucknow Super Giants while Shreyas Iyer was the first player ever to get a 25 cr plus deal in an IPL auction.

Shreyas Iyer, the IPL 2024 winning captain received a 26.75 cr bid from Punjab Kings, who had released most of their players during the retention and wanted a captain in their squad. Along with him, Punjab Kings with the highest money in the purse before the auction, were responsible for three of the top 10 most expensive bids. They first brought back their fast bowler Arshdeep Singh for INR 18 cr and after Shreyas Iyer's bid, they made Yuzvendra Chahal the most expensive spinner in IPL history.

Chahal, who everyone thought could go back to RCB, was eventually bought by Punjab Kings for a whooping INR 18 cr, which was the fourth-highest bid of the auction. Meantime, the defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders surprised everyone after buying back Venkatesh Iyer for INR 23 cr. They nearly fought a bidding war with Royal Challengers Bangalore to bring him back to Eden Gardens.

Jos Buttler was another marquee player, who was supposed to be big in the auction and he was Gujarat Titan's highest bid of the season at INR 15.75 cr. KL Rahul, went to Delhi Capitals for INR 14 cr, which everyone thought was another case of RCB not going all-out for a player. 

Trent Boult reunited with Jasprit Bumrah at Mumbai Indians, after the five-time champions decided to spend most of their money on retaining their core group of players. The Kiwi pacer was sold for INR 12.5 cr. Aussie pacer Josh Hazlewood also attracted the same amount of money from RCB, who were looking for a good fast bowler, after they let Mohammed Siraj go in the retention and auction as well. 

Top 10 most expensive players in IPL 2025 auction

The first match of the five-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy series between India and Australia is to be played in Perth from November 22. However, there are many questions regarding what will be the combination of the Indian team's batting lineup. 

Also Read: Border-Gavaskar Trophy Head-to-head stats: Which team has won the most between Australia and India?

After Rohit Sharma is out of this test match, the captaincy will be in the hands of Jasprit Bumrah. In such a situation, Bumrah will have to brainstorm with head coach Gautam Gambhir as to how the playing 11 will be. Notably, the Indian team's 5-match Test series against Australia is important for reaching the final of the World Test Championship (WTC).

Here's how India's batting lineup is shaping up for the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

Rahul will open with Jaiswal

KL Rahul got injured during the India-A practice match by a rising delivery from Prasidh Krishna. But now there is news about Rahul that he has completely recovered. So Rahul can open with Yashasvi Jaiswal. At the same time, the chances of Shubman Gill playing in the Perth Test are negligible.  Because he has a fracture in his left thumb. Gill will now be able to play in the second Test starting on December 6 in Adelaide. Devdutt Padikkal, Virat Kohli, and Sarfaraz Khan will be in the middle order.

Who will take charge at number 3?

In the absence of Rohit, the responsibility of opening the innings may be on the shoulders of Jaiswal and KL Rahul.  In this challenging series, Virat Kohli would like to finish at number four. In this sequence, Virat has scored 25 out of 29 centuries in his Test career. So, Devdutt Padikkal or Sarfaraz Khan will have to come at number three. After this, Dhruv Jurel and Rishabh Pant at numbers 6 and 7 can strengthen Team India.

Also Read: Which player has played the most games in Border-Gavaskar Trophy? 8th player in the list might shock you

Jurel can play as specialist batsman 

Wicketkeeper-batsman Dhruv Jurel impressed everyone in the match against Australia A. He scored 80 and 68 runs in two innings at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). After this, He can play as a specialist batsman in the team. Former head coach of Team India Ravi Shastri has also advocated this. Pant will be seen wicketkeeping in the match. 

India's probable playing XI for the Perth Test:

Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Devdutt Padikkal, Virat Kohli, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Jasprit Bumrah (c), Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep.

Indian squad for Australia tour: 

Rohit Sharma (c), Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Ravindra Jadeja, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Sarfaraz Khan, Virat Kohli, Prasidh Krishna, Ravichandran Ashwin, Rishabh Pant (wk), KL Rahul, Harshit Rana, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shubman Gill, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Mohammed Siraj, Washington Sundar.

Indian wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant is back in the top 10 of the ICC Test rankings after impressive performances in the third match of the ICC World Test Championship series played in Mumbai.

Also Read: 204 from 1574 registered players to be picked up in IPL 2025 auction: Auction Details

Pant, who scored 60 in the first innings and 64 in the second innings, has moved up five places to sixth, one less than his career-best fifth position achieved in the 2022 Edgbaston Test against England. His rating has become 750.

Yashasvi Jaiswal lost one place

Yashasvi Jaiswal could not do anything special in the last Test against New Zealand, which is why he has now slipped one place down to number 4, his rating is now 777. Steve Smith still remains at number 5 with a rating of 757. Apart from Pant and Jaiswal, no batsman from India has been able to make his place in the ICC Test Rankings' top 10 list.

Rohit and Virat have gone far away from top 10

However, if we talk about Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, both these star batsmen have now gone far away from the top 10. Their comeback now seems very difficult. Virat has gone down a total of 8 places. His rating has dropped to 655 and he is at number 22, his second lowest since the end of the 2014 tour of England. Rohit, on the other hand, has gone straight to number 26. He has lost two places. His rating at present is 629. 

Also Read: Is it the end of Rohit-Kohli? How can India qualify for WTC final? Who else whitewashed India at home?

Jadeja moved to sixth

In the bowling rankings, left-arm spinners India’s Ravindra Jadeja and Player of the Match Ajaz Patel of New Zealand have made headway after their performances at Wankhede Stadium. Jadeja’s third 10-wicket match haul has helped him move up from eighth to sixth and past the 800-point mark while Patel’s 11 wickets have taken him to a career-best 22nd position with a 12-rung jump.

ICC Test Rankings (Batting)

ICC Test Rankings (Bowling)