There is always a buzz in the air when any ICC award is handed over to players. The awards are ICC's way to recognize valuable performances which uplift the brand value of the sport all over the globe. It came as a surprise when ICC announced the current winners which do not include players from the big league such as India, Australia, England, New Zealand, and South Africa.
For May, ICC has chosen Sri Lanka's Angelo Mathews and Pakistan’s debutante spin sensation Tuba Hassan as the "players of the month" in their respective categories. Mathews was voted as the stand-out male player as he scored heavily against Bangladesh in the ongoing ICC World Test Championship cycle. Angelo Mathews scored a staggering 344 runs throughout two test matches in which he scored 199 that forced a draw followed up with 145* in Mirpur. The outstanding knock that he played in the second test match helped his side to put up a mammoth 506 runs and win the match by 10 wickets.
Since January 2021, the inception of the POTM (Players of the Month) award, Mathews is the first Sri Lankan player to get his hands on the title. Elated by the title Mathews said "I am honored and delighted to be the ICC Men’s Player of the Month. I would like to congratulate Asitha Fernando and Mushfiqur Rahim who were front runners for this award, on their spectacular performances. Along with Angelo Mathews, Pakistan's Tuba Hassan was also honored as she claimed the "player of the series" award against Sri Lanka after taking five wickets at an average of 8.
Tuba Hassan who is the first Pakistan female player to win this award was nominated with Bismah Maroof and Jersey’s Trinity Smith.
(Inputs from PTI)
