On Friday, May 8, the International Cricket Council (ICC) revealed the nominees for Player of the Month for April 2026. In a notable instance, this time the nominees for the men’s award were not from the top cricket playing nations like India, Australia, England, but included a player each from Oman, Bangladesh and the UAE.
Following a match-winning display in the ODI series against New Zealand, Bangladesh’s pace sensation Nahid Rana found himself in the list, along with Oman’s Jatinder Singh, who have enjoyed a great outing at the ongoing ICC Men’s cricket World Cup League Two and Ajay Kumar from UAE, who has a memorable start to his international career last month.
Elaborating on the performances of each, while Nahid Rana claimed 8 wickets in three ODIs at an impressive average of 16.75, including his standout performance in second ODI, where he picked a five-fer (5/32), thus being honoured with the Player of the Series award, the Oman captain has been sensational with the bat off late. Singh has been consistent, amassing 266 runs in 5 ODIs, including a half-century against Scotland and a 96-ball 130 against Nepal. Speaking of Ajay Kumar, the emerging bowler picked up 9 wickets in just his first two ODIs at an economy of 3.66. His performance included figures of 3/34 against Nepal and 6/35 against Oman.
Nominees for Women’s Player of the Month award
However, in the women’s category, Protea Women captain Laura Wolvaardt was picked after a brilliant campaign against New Zealand and India Women. The South African scored 138 runs in two ODIs against the White Ferns and carried the momentum in the T20I series against India Women, piling 330 runs in five games at an average of 82.50. She has been joined by Sri Lankan batter Imesha Dulani, who accumulated 116 runs in three ODIs against Bangladesh and Laura Cardoso of Brazil.
It is to be noted that Cardoso registered the best figures in women’s T20I last month, 9/4 in her three overs in match against Lesotho. The winner of the same award will be announced in a few days’ time by the ICC.
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