Cricket: Babar Azam, Alyssa Healy Voted ICC Players of The Month For April 2021

Pakistan captain Babar Azam has been named ICC Men’s Player of the Month for April 2021.

Pakistan skipper Babar Azam has been named the ICC Men’s Player of the Month for April 2021 for his consistent and stellar performances across all formats in the recently concluded series against South Africa. Along with Babar, Australian women’s team wicketkeeper-batsman Alyssa Healy on Monday also bagged the ICC Women’s Player of The Month accolade for her incredible performances during the month of April. Healy’s consistency with the bat has played a significant role in Australia’s dominance. Healy has shown her class in all conditions and against all types of bowling in the recent series against New Zealand.

The 26-year-old Babar played a match-winning knock of 94 off 82 balls in the third ODI against South Africa that helped him gain 13 rating points to reach a career-best 865 points. With that, Babar toppled his Indian counterpart Virat Kohli to occupy the top spot in ICC ODI rankings for batsmen.

He also contributed 122 from 59 balls in Pakistan’s successful chase in the third match of a T20I series against the same opposition.

“The world bats in two ways in white-ball cricket. One way is to destroy attacks with muscle and force and then there is the Babar Azam way, like conducting a batting symphony with punch, panache and flair, and he deserves to win this award,” Ramiz Raja, representing the ICC Voting Academy, said in a release.

🔸 Three ODIs, 228 runs at 76.00
🔸 Seven T20Is, 305 runs at 43.57
🔥 Became the No.1 ODI batsman

Well done, @babarazam258 for winning the ICC Men’s Player of the Month for April 👏#ICCPOTM pic.twitter.com/CuCaodFEk7

— ICC (@ICC) May 10, 2021

From the Southern Stars, Healy was deservingly chosen for her dominant show against all types of bowling in the recent series against New Zealand.

Healy played three ODIs against New Zealand, scoring 155 runs at an average of 51.66 and a strike rate of 98.72. She finished as the leading run-scorer in Australia’s series victory over New Zealand that extended their record winning streak to 24 ODIs.

Commenting on Healy’s performance, Ian Bishop representing the ICC Voting Academy said, “Healy deserves to win the ICC Women’s Player of the Month – April as she added the runs at the top consistently and at a good tempo to help set up Australia’s scoring in chases and target setting across all three games of their record-breaking series.”