By a Staff Reporter
Kathmandu – Nepali national cricket team’s all-rounder Dipendra Singh Airee failed to win the ICC Player of the Month Award. Airee was nominated for the award last week but it was India’s Shreyas Iyer who bagged the award.
Airee along with Iyer and Bitya Arbind of the UAE were nominated for the ICC Player of the Month Award for February. Both Airee and Arbind had performed exceptionally well during the ICC T20 World Cup Qualifiers. Similarly, Iyer had grabbed the attention during India’s series against Sri Lanka and West Indies.
Airee had scored 159 runs during the World Cup Qualifiers and also took 3 wickets. Prior to that, he had bagged 4 wickets in a match against Ireland and scored a total of 142 runs during a four-nations series ahead of the qualifiers. Airee’s all-round performance during the qualifiers helped Nepal reach the semifinals.
Sandeep Lamichhane was earlier nominated for the ICC Player of the Month in September 2021. Besides him, Nepal’s Kushal Bhurtel was also nominated in April 2021.
Meanwhile, the award winner Iyer had scored quick-fire 57 runs off 28 balls, 74 runs off 44 balls and 73 runs off 45 balls during India’s T20 matches against Sri Lanka. He remained not out in all three matches. He had scored a total of 20 boundaries and 7 fences during the three matches. He had also scored 80 runs in the third ODI against West Indies.
Similarly, Arbind had played a vital role in helping the UAE qualify for their second T20 World Cup. He had played an aggressive 46-run innings against Nepal in the semifinals of the World Cup qualifiers. He was also unbeaten with 97 runs during the group stage match against Ireland. Likewise, he had scored 40 runs against Germany and 84 against Bahrain.
Based on the players’ performance, the ICC nominates three players every month for the award. The winner is announced by the ICC panel and open voting process. The ICC panel includes former players, journalists and broadcasters. The weightage of ICC panel’s vote is 90 percent and the weightage of open voting is 10 percent.