India’s Smriti Mandhana has been named ICC Women Cricketer of the year and has made the entire nation proud.
India had a difficult 2021 but Mandhana continued to shine. In the limited-overs series against South Africa where India had won two of the eight matches at home and Mandhana had played a key role in both the victories. She scored 80 runs unbeaten and India scored a total run of 158 in the second ODI. In the final, she scored 48 runs not out and bagged the T20I trophy. She had hit a fantastic century in her first test and received the Player of the match title. She scored her second half-century in T20I in 2021 but it went into vain as the team lost the series at 2-0.
Smriti Mandhana made her first-ever pink-ball Test more memorable by scoring her first hundred in the longest format.
ICC Awards 2021: Smriti Mandhana wins Women’s Cricketer of The Year as Shaheen Afridi wins Men’s Cricketer of The Tear
On the other hand, Shaheen Afridi became the first Pakistani cricketer to receive the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy since 2004 (its inception). He had picked 78 wickets in 36 matches in all international formats. His best figure is 6 wickets for 51 runs in the first innings of the second test against West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica. He was also an important contributor in Pakistan’s first-ever victory against India in t20 World Cup. There, he dismissed 3 players for 31 runs including former skipper Virat Kohli’s wicket in Dubai in October 2021.
Here’s what he has to say:
“I tried to produce good performances for Pakistan in 2021. Even our team played well and we won some good matches. I have always tried to produce good performances for Pakistan and hopefully I’ll continue doing that,” Afridi said in a video message posted by the ICC, and termed his T20 WC effort against India as his best. “I had many good performances, including five-fors in Tests. But the most memorable one for me would be the match we won against India. It was a historical game and plenty of people watch India matches. Performing against India was the highlight of 2021 for me.”
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