Dubai, May 8 (IANS) Bangladesh fast bowler Nahid Rana, Oman captain Jatinder Singh and left-arm seamer Ajay Kumar of the United Arab Emirates have been nominated for the ICC Men’s Player of the Month award for April.
Rana has made the men’s shortlist following his Player of the Series effort in three ODIs at home against New Zealand. Singh’s performances in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup League 2 in Nepal see him make the cut, while Kumar made it after a notable start to his ODI career in the same series.
The 23-year-old pace sensation Rana took eight wickets at an economy of 4.46 and was named the Player of the Series as Bangladesh defeated New Zealand 2-1 in a home ODI series.
The highlight for Rana was a haul of five for 32 in the second match in Mirpur that Bangladesh won by 55 runs, and finished the series with two wickets in the final match in Chattogram.
On the other hand, Oman skipper Jatinder amassed 266 runs across five ODIs at an average of 53.20 and a strike rate above 115 in Oman’s Cricket World Cup League 2 campaign.
He struck 51 against Scotland early in the month and finished off with a superb 139 off 91 balls against Nepal in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup League 2, which is the highest ODI score by an Oman batter.
Rounding out the shortlist is UAE’s emerging bowling star Kumar, who grabbed nine wickets at an economy of 3.66. He returned superb figures of three for 34 against Nepal and six for 35 against Oman in his first two career ODIs that came in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup League 2.
The three nominees are shortlisted based on performances from the first to the last day of each calendar month. The shortlist is then voted on by the independent ICC Voting Academy* and fans around the world.
–IANS
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