How many Indian players feature in ICC Awards 2023 winners list?
The International Cricket Council has announced the ICC Awards for 2023, rewarding performances across formats. Some of the main individual categories include cricketer of the year (all formats), emerging cricketer of the year, associate cricketer of the year and the umpire of the year.
Australian Test and one-day captain Pat Cummins won the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for the ICC Men's Cricketer of the Year 2023, while England all-rounder Nat Sciver-Brunt won the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Award for the ICC Women's Cricketer of the Year 2023.
Speaking of Indian players, two of them won individual honors in ICC Awards 2023. Veteran batter Virat Kohli was named the ICC Men's ODI Cricketer of the Year 2023.
The 35-year-old had a stellar year with the willow in the one-day format. He was the second-leading run-getter, with 1,377 runs in 27 games at an average of 72.47 and a strike rate of 99.13, with six hundreds and eight fifties.
The former India captain had a record-breaking ODI World Cup campaign, amassing 765 runs in 11 innings at an average of 95.62 and a strike rate of 90.32, with three hundreds and six fifties.
With his century in the semifinal against New Zealand in Mumbai, he also surpassed Sachin Tendulkar to become the first batter to hit 50 one-day tons.
Suryakumar Yadav was the other Indian cricketer to win an individual accolade in ICC Awards 2023.
He was named the ICC Men's T20I Cricketer of the Year for the second time in a row. SKY had a stellar 2023 with the bat in the T20I format, smashing 733 runs in 17 innings at an average of 48.86 and a strike rate of 155.95, with two hundreds and five fifties.
The 33-year-old clobbered 112* off 51 against Sri Lanka in Rajkot in January and 100 off 56 versus South Africa in Johannesburg in December.
Indians feature prominently in ICC teams of the year
While only two Indians won individual awards, players from the country were a prominent feature in the teams of the year. The spin duo of Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin were named in the ICC Men's Test Team of the Year 2023.
The ICC Men's ODI Team of the Year 2023 is led by Rohit Sharma and includes five other Indians - Shubman Gill, Kohli, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav and Mohammed Shami.
Suryakumar has been picked as the captain of the ICC Men's T20I Team of the Year 2023. The XI also features Men in Blue opener Yashasvi Jaiswal, young leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi and left-arm seamer Arshdeep Singh.