- Wednesday, November 27, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
India captain Harmanpreet Kaur has become the first cricketer from the country to be named as one of Wisden’s five Cricketers of the Year.
The 34-year-old batter, who recently led Mumbai Indians to lift the crown in the inaugural Women’s Premier League, has scored more than 6,000 international runs, most of which came in white-ball formats.
The other winners are New Zealand’s Tom Blundell and Daryl Mitchell and England’s Ben Foakes and Matthew Potts.
Wisden has been giving these awards since 1889.
Congratulations poured in on social media for Kaur for creating history, including from former cricketers such as Jhulan Goswami and RP Singh.
“This did not come as a surprise. Kaur’s prowess shows and this is just a glimpse into it,” Goswami said, according to the BBC.
Former Indian bowler RP Singh said the cricketer “deserved all the accolades”.
A player can be named as one of the Cricketers of the Year only once in their career and the honour is based on achievements during the English summer.
According to Wisden, Kaur made it to the list mainly because of her sublime 143 not out from 111 balls in the second one-day international against England in Canterbury last September, which guided India to their maiden one-day international series victory on English soil since 1999.
Kaur also led her side to a silver-medal finish at the Commonwealth Games in 2022.
As the news of Kaur becoming a Wisden cricketer broke on Tuesday, fans praised the skipper for her contribution to Indian cricket.
“She is a godsent gift to women’s cricket in India,” one user said.
India batter Suryakumar Yadav, who recently faced a backlash after scoring three consecutive golden-ball ducks against Australia in a one-day international (ODI) series at home, was named the Wisden T20 Cricketer of the Year. England Test captain Ben Stokes was picked as Wisden’s leading cricketer in the world.
