Arshdeep Singh becomes ICC Men's T20I Cricketer of the Year

Arshdeep Singh has been crowned as the ICC Men's T20I Cricketer of the Year after producing a spectacular year in the shortest format. Arshdeep pipped the challenge from Travis Head, Babar Azam and Sikandar Raza to take the honour. 

Arshdeep was by far India's leading wicket-taker of the Year as he made 36 scalps in 18 matches with Ravi Bishnoi being second having taken 22 wickets.

The left-arm pacer also played a crucial role in India's T20 World Cup 2024 win. He was India's highest wicket-taker and joint-highest overall with 17 scalps alongside Fazalhaq Farooqi.

Arshdeep played an instrumental role with the ball in the final against South Africa, when he produced the figures of 2/20 from his four overs. This included wickets of Proteas skipper Aiden Markram and wicketkeeper batter Quinton de Kock at crucial junctures.

The left-arm speedster took out Markram in the powerplay before returning in the middle phase to get de Kock when India needed a wicket. He



bowled at the death too. When the Proteas needed 20 from the final two overs, Arshdeep bowled a four-run over to leave 16 for Hardik Pandya to defend, which he eventually did and India won the tournament by seven runs. 

Arshdeep is the first bowler to be named the best T20I cricketer of the year. Mohammad Rizwan and Suryakumar Yadav were the previous players to have won the honour that began in 2021. Rizwan was the T20I cricketer of the year in 2021, while SKY won the honours in 2022 and 2023.

Meanwhile, Babar Azam had a fruitful year too. He was Pakistan's leading run-scorer with 738 runs to his name. Babar had hit six half-centuries in 23 innings and was in good touch. 

Raza had a brilliant all-round year too. He made 573 runs in 24 matches and scalped 24 wickets in as many games. 

Meanwhile, Travis Head struck well in 2024 too. He slammed 539 runs at an average of 38.50 in 15 T20Is at a strike rate of 178.47. Head had hit four half tons in the year too.