Indian women's cricket team's batter Jemimah Rodrigues has been nominated for the ICC Player of the month award for her brilliant performance in the Birmingham Commonwealth Games. Rodrigues, who is celebrating her 22nd birthday today, played some crucial knocks including a 56-run knock against Barbados that helped India reach the semifinals of the Games. She was India's second-highest run-scorer with 146 runs in five matches at an average of 73.
Along with the right-handed Rodrigues, Australia's Beth Mooney and Tahlia McGrath have also been nominated for the same award. Mooney was the leading run-scorer in the tournament with 179 runs to her name in five matches at an average of 44.75. She hit two fifties in the event with 70 being her highest score.
McGrath has been included in this list for her all-round performance in the Commonwealth Games. She was the ninth-highest run scorer of the event, having scored 128 runs at an average of 42.67 including one fifty. She was also impactful in the bowling department as she scalped eight wickets in five matches in Australia's journey to the historic Gold medal.
In India's journey towards the Silver medal, Rodrigues contributed with the bat as she scored runs on crucial points. In the group stage clash against Barbados, India lost Smriti Mandhana early before she joined hands with Shafali Verma and anchored the innings. With her unbeaten 56 off 46, India ended up scoring 162/4 in 20 overs.
In the semifinal against the home team England, Rodrigues again helped India to finish well. After Smriti Mandhana scored a brilliant 61 off 32 balls, Rodrigues carried the ship forward to help India finish 164. She scored an unbeaten 44 off 32 deliveries.
Apart from the women's category, the men's category also announced nominations for the Player of the month. England skipper Ben Stokes, Zimbabwe's Sikandar Raza and New Zealand's Mitchell Santner found their names on the list.
Stokes scored a hundred in the second Test against South Africa and also picked four wickets in the match. He took three wickets in the first Test. Sikandar Raza has also had a great month. In Zimbabwe's series against Bangladesh and India, Raza smashed three centuries in the month. Santner played an important role in helping New Zealand beat Netherlands and West Indies in the limited overs series in the month.
(Inputs from PTI)
