ICC T20 World Cup 2021: Three players who could win the Player of the Series Award
The seventh edition of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup started in the UAE on 17th October 2021. Initially, the ICC planned Australia as the tournament's venue, but they changed it to UAE and Oman for COVID-related reasons.
The exciting tournament had enormous surprises for the audience. To everyone's astonishment, Pakistan made history with their maiden win against India in the competition. England, the pre-tournament favorites, lost to the underdog side of New Zealand in the semi-final.
The defending champions, West Indies, could not reach the semi-finals despite boasting a star-studded squad. Even the formidable Indian team suffered the same fate as the West Indies.
Australia and New Zealand are finalists at the fag end of the competition, and a Trans-Tasman encounter awaits. Undoubtedly, all the players of the finalist teams will put their best efforts into winning the T20 World Cup.
The best performer gains an honor in the Player of the Series award in the tournament's completion. In the previous T20 World Cup, Virat Kohli won the prize for top-scoring with 273 runs in five matches for team India.
Much like Virat in 2016, the candidates on this list can win the prestigious award in this year's tournament.
#3 Adam Zampa
Adam Zampa ripped through the Bangladesh lower order to claim the second-best bowling figures for Australia in men's T20Is 🔥
es.pn/3k7DqFA | #T20WorldCup https://t.co/5dmk3Itmmt
Adam Zampa has been the go-to leg spinner for Australia in recent times. With subtle changes of pace and variations, Zampa has carried Shane Warne's legacy for Australia. Leg spin remains Australia's strength due to Zampa.
Coming into the 2021 T20 World Cup, Zampa had an enormous responsibility, and he carried it well. With 12 wickets in six games, the leg spinner ranks second on the top wicket-takers list after the semis.
Zampa obtained the tournament's best bowling figures (5-19) against Bangladesh in Dubai. As the finals will happen at the same Dubai venue, a similar performance from Zampa is most likely.
#2 Jos Buttler
Jos Buttler entered the 2021 T20 World Cup with huge expectations to deliver and exceeded all of those. With a crucial responsibility to open the batting for England, Buttler made the most of it and achieved something remarkable.
The flamboyant batsman scored the most runs for England with 269 runs in six matches. Buttler's 67-ball-101 against Sri Lanka remains the highest individual score and sole century of the tournament.
England's leading run-scorer of the tournament also claims the competition's most sixes (13) at the end of the semis. Therefore, Buttler has done enough work to conquer the Player of the Series award.
#1 Babar Azam
Pakistan entered the 2021 T20 World Cup heavily dependent on their crucial player and best batsman, Babar Azam. Despite being under enormous captaincy pressure and expectations to deliver with the bat, Babar fulfilled his duties well.
The Lahore-born captain displayed meticulousness by leading the team to the semi-finals without losing any matches in the group stages. Under the astute leadership of Babar, Pakistan obtained a maiden T20 World Cup win against India and cleared a long-standing blemish.
The right-hander reiterated that he is the best batsman in world cricket by scoring the tournament's most runs. A staggering 303 runs in six matches at an average of 60.60 makes the right-hander a class apart from his competitors.
Apart from being the tournament's leading run-scorer, Azam also has the most half-centuries (4) and boundaries (28) at the end of the semis. Therefore, Azam's shrewd captaincy and splendid batting make him stake a strong claim.