England captain Joe Root, New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson and the Pakistan duo of Shaheen Shah Afridi and Mohammad Rizwan were on Friday short-listed for the ICC Men’s Cricketer of the Year Award for their stellar performances across formats.
The award will be given to the best overall performer in men’s international cricket (Tests, ODIs and T20Is) during 2021. The winner, who will lift the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy, will be announced on January 24. Root enjoyed a year that will go down in the pages of the history books, scoring 1855 runs in 18 international matches at an average of 58.37 with six centuries. He though endured disappointment as captain with England suffering Ashes humiliation. His year began with a marathon knock in 228 against Sri Lanka in Galle and he has only gone from strength to strength.
He would follow up his exploits against Sri Lanka with a memorable knock in Chennai, a brilliant 218 against India in the sweltering heat against a spin attack of the highest calibre. Root continued his sublime form against India in the return leg of the Test series at home, aggregating 564 runs in four matches with three centuries to his name.
His performance also helped him reach the summit of the ICC Test Player Rankings for batting, where he would be eventually displaced by Marnus Labuschagne.
Despite failing to convert his starts into big scores, Root continued being England’s best batter against Australia in the first three Ashes Tests.
As compared to Root, Williamson’s 693 runs in 16 internationals at an average of 43.31 with one century was a modest total but the admirable Kiwi cannot only be judged on the basis of the runs he scored.