The International Cricket Council (ICC) has revealed the shortlisted candidates for its Player of the Month awards covering exceptional individual contributions across October. The selected roster features prominent international performers from both men's and women's circuits who delivered match-defining outings during recent bilateral and multi-team engagements. The men's shortlist comprises South African fast-bowling all-rounder Marco Jansen, Pakistan all-rounder Arafat Minhas, and West Indies captain Shai Hope. Meanwhile, the women's category features Indian all-rounder Deepti Sharma, Bangladesh top-order batter Sobhana Mostary, and Australian all-rounder Annabel Sutherland.
Breakdown of Men's Category Nominees
South Africa's 26-year-old Marco Jansen produced a commanding all-round month in Test cricket, amassing 198 runs alongside capturing 13 wickets with his left-arm pace. During the second Test against Australia, Jansen struck a vital 85 runs and returned bowling figures of 5/33 and 1/34. These performances propelled him to the number-one spot in both the ICC Men's Test Bowler and Test All-Rounder rankings. Jansen became the first South African bowler to head the Test bowling chart since Kagiso Rabada in 2024, and the first cricketer from his nation to top the Test all-rounder rankings since Vernon Philander achieved the feat in August 2014.
Pakistan's 21-year-old left-arm spin-bowling all-rounder Arafat Minhas earned recognition following a standout tri-series campaign featuring Sri Lanka and England on home soil. Pakistan secured the tri-series trophy, with Minhas capturing the Player of the Series award. Over the tournament, he gathered 149 runs at a strike rate of 119.20 and took nine wickets while maintaining an economy rate of 5.13. His individual highlights included an outing against England where he scored 59 runs and registered bowling figures of 6/40. In the final against Sri Lanka in Lahore, he delivered a 31-ball knock of 61 runs.
West Indies captain and wicketkeeper-batter Shai Hope enjoyed a prolific run in white-ball cricket across October, registering three unbeaten centuries. In the final One Day International against India held in New Chandigarh, Hope anchored a successful run chase with an unbeaten 162. He carried that momentum into the subsequent five-match T20 International series against India, tallying 261 runs at a strike rate of 190.51. That series included consecutive unbeaten hundreds, as he scored 102 not out in the second T20I at Ranchi and followed it with another unbeaten 102 in the fourth fixture at Hyderabad.
Standout Performers in the Women's Division
India's Deepti Sharma made telling contributions during the home ICC Women's Championship ODI series against Zimbabwe. Although granted only one batting outing in the 50-over format, she compiled an unbeaten 106. With the ball, the off-spinner snared five wickets at an economy rate of 3.42 to help India complete a 3-0 sweep. Earlier in the preceding three-match T20I series, she had another single batting opportunity, scoring 49 runs from 37 deliveries, alongside claiming two wickets with her bowling.
Bangladesh batter Sobhana Mostary set a national benchmark during the away ICC Women's Championship ODI series in Australia. In the second fixture played at Brisbane, Mostary faced 134 deliveries to construct an innings of 118 runs. The knock stands as the highest individual ODI score by any Bangladeshi woman against Australia. Across the series, she aggregated 129 runs at a strike rate of 73.71.
Australian all-rounder Annabel Sutherland delivered consistent balance with both bat and ball to steer her side to a 3-0 series victory over Bangladesh in the ICC Women's Championship ODIs. Sutherland accumulated 99 runs at a strike rate of 132 and picked up six wickets at an economy rate of 4.12 across the three 50-over games. Her campaign featured figures of 4/30 in the opening match and an unbeaten 74 in the third game. She also featured in three T20Is against New Zealand, where she scored 19 runs and claimed one wicket.
