ICC Reveals Player Of The Month Nominees For May! Bangladesh Assert Domination

Bangladesh Test win vs Pakistan [Source: AFP]

The ICC has officially released the list of nominees for the Player of the Month for May, when Bangladesh’s Test series win over Pakistan took all the attention in international cricket in the middle of the IPL season.

Deservingly so, two of these three nominees come from Bangladesh’s Test series-winning squad. Additionally, arguably one of the best associate batters in the world, Dipendra Singh Airee, was the third player to be recognised by the ICC.

Bangladesh dominates ICC May nominations

In May, just over a month after defeating Pakistan in a three-match ODI series, Bangladesh hosted them for two Test matches. This was on the back of their first-ever Test series win over the Asian giants in 2024. Interestingly, they proved that the 2024 win was not a fluke and once again clean-swept them convincingly.

Mushfiqur Rahim defies age

During the red-ball series, the veteran Mushfiqur Rahim continued to show why he is still one of the most crucial cogs of their batting.

In the four innings across two Tests, he scored an important 71 off 179 in the first match, and backed it up by 137 off 233 in the second innings of the second Test to put the target past Pakistan’s reach. By the end of the series, he scored 253 runs at an average of 63.25 with the best score of 137.

With this series, he took his Test average close to 40 and was also named the Player of the Series.

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Taijul Islam redefines consistency

Bangladesh’s all-time leading wicket-taker in Tests, Taijul Islam was once again in his element during the series, across both Tests. While he did not bowl too much in the first match at Mirpur, he showed his exemplary control in the second innings, conceding only 22 runs in 14 overs for two wickets.

In the second Test, he did the heavy lifting in the final innings, picking 6/120 in 34.2 overs to take his match tally to 9/187 in the win. He finished the series as the highest wicket-taker with 13 scalps in 4 innings, at an average of 19.61.

Dipendra Singh Airee continues as flag-bearer for Associates

The very impressive Dipendra Singh Airee was in action in both ODIs and T20Is in May, playing 5 innings across both formats.

He started the month with a 100 off 94 against UAE in Kiratpur on May 1, and backed it up with 55 off 49 and 59 off 36 against USA. The all-rounder, with his off-break bowling, was Nepal’s second-highest wicket-taker of the month with 8 wickets in 7 innings, at an economy rate of 4.41 runs per over. His best figures read 4/24.

Thanks to Airee's brilliance, Nepal defeated Hong Kong in the final of the Asian Games Qualifiers with a 19-run margin (DLS).