Rizwan among nominees for ICC Men's T20I Player of the Year

Pakistan wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan has been nominated for ICC Men's T20I Player of the Year award for 2021.

The 29-year-old was the leading run-scorer and became the first to score 1000+ runs in this format in a calendar year.

Apart from Rizwan, England's Jos Buttler, Sri Lanka's Wanindu Hasaranga and Australia's Mitchell Marsh are nominated for the award.

Rizwan scored 1326 runs at an average of 73.66, smacking 12 fifties and one century. He also claimed 22 dismissals behind the stumps, most by a keeper in a year.

Meanwhile, Wanindu Hasaranga was rewarded for his standalone performance for Sri Lanka. He was brilliant for them throughout the year, bagging 36 wickets in 20 matches at 11.63 and scoring 196 runs with one half-century.

On the other hand, Mitchell Marsh was pivotal in guiding Australia to win the maiden ICC Men's T20 World Cup last month. His promotion at No.3 brought wonders for the Aussies. He made 627 runs in 27 matches at 36.88 and 8 wickets at 18.37. 

Jos Buttler is the last nominee for this accolade as he smacked 589 runs in 14 matches at 65.44 with one century. He also bagged 13 dismissals behind the stumps.

It must be noted that ICC will continue to unveil nominations of each category of ICC Awards every single day. The winners for each category will be announced in January. 

The official ICC Team of the Years are set to be announced on 17 and 18 January. The individual awards pertaining to women’s cricket will be announced on 23 January. The men’s awards, as well as the Spirit of Cricket and Umpire of the Year award, will be announced on 24 January.