The International Cricket Council announced the nominees for the Sir Garfield Sobers Award of the Year 2023, the biggest individual cricketing award, on Friday, January 5. Two Indian cricketers Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja are among the four nominees for the ICC Men Cricketer of the Year 2023.
Australian captain Pat Cummins and star batter Travis Head have also bagged the nomination after a trophy-laden year in 2023. Cummins led Australia to the ICC World Test Championship 2023 and ICC ODI World Cup 2023 while Head scored hundreds in the final matches of both tournaments.
Kohli witnessed a brilliant year across formats, scoring 2048 runs in just 36 international innings at an average of 66.06 in 2023. He also recorded eight centuries and claimed the Player of the Tournament award at the ICC World Cup 2023. Kohli was also India's leading run-getter in Tests in 2023 and achieved some memorable milestones throughout the year.
Ravindra Jadeja also made an impact in 2023 with 613 runs in 28 international innings and was the leading wicket-taker for India with 66 wickets in 39 innings.
ICC Cricketer of the Year 2023 (Sir Garfield Sobers Award) Nominees:
- Virat Kohli
- Pat Cummins
- Ravindra Jadeja
- Travis Head
Meanwhile, the ICC also revealed the nominees for the Test Cricket of the Year 2023 award. Australia's in-form Usman Khawaja is among the leading candidates after topping the scoring charts with 1210 runs in just 12 Tests at an average of 52.60 and was the only batter to score 1000-plus runs in 2023.
The current no.1 Test bowler Ravichandran Ashwin, Australia's in-form batter Travis Head and former England captain Joe Root are the remaining three nominees to for the prestigious ICC Test Cricketer of the Year award.
ICC Test Cricketer of the Year 2023:
- Usman Khawaja
- Travis Head
- Ravichandran Ashwin
- Joe Root
