The International Cricket Council (ICC) has recently announced the nominated players for the Player of the Month award for February. As the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup began on February 7, the ICC has naturally nominated the players who did well in the tournament. You’d think there would be a nomination from the Indian contingent as well, considering they eventually won the T20 World Cup 2026 with aplomb.
Why no Indian in ICC’s Player of Month contention?
However, there are no Indians part of the list, as the ICC has named Pakistan’s Sahibzada Farhan, England’s Will Jacks and USA’s Shadley van Schalkwyk as the three nominations. Why is no Indian there? Why not Sanju Samson, who won the Player of the Tournament award for the T20 World Cup? Well, Samson’s incredible contribution of three consecutive 50+ scores in must-win matches came in March. Hence, he is out of the equation.
At the T20 World Cup 2026, India played six games in February, winning five of those. In batting, Ishan Kishan was India’s highest run-getter with 214 runs at an incredible strike rate of 186.08. However, ICC has gone with Farhan, who made 383 runs, which he made in the entire tournament, taking over Virat Kohli’s record of most runs in a T20 World Cup edition. His runs came at a strike rate of 160.25.
Will Jacks and an USA player named by the ICC
Had Samson not put up those insane numbers at the end, England’s Will Jacks was in contention to win the Player of the Tournament award. He was the chief contributor in the English team, becoming the first player to secure four Player of the Match awards at a single edition of the Men’s T20 World Cup.
As an all-rounder, he contributed 194 crucial runs for England at a strike rate of 173.21 and snapped up 11 wickets in February. He did well in the semi-final against India as well but it all went in vain and so did Jacob Bethell’s remarkable century.
The third and final player nominated is USA’s Shadley van Schalkwyk. Until the final of the T20 World Cup, he led the wicket-taking tally as he took 13 wickets to finish among the top-wicket takers. Eight of those wickets came against India and Pakistan. What a sight for a player of an associate nation! As for India, Varun Chakravarthy was having a superb tournament until February, as he took 11 wickets at an economy of 7.2.
Indian players brought their A-game in the business end of the tournament that fell in March. This can give you a reason, perhaps, why there are no Indians nominated for the prestigious award.
