Jasprit Bumrah nominated for December’s ICC Player of the Month award; Pat Cummins, Dane Paterson on list

India's star pacer Jasprit Bumrah was on Tuesday nominated for the ICC Men’s Player of the Month award for December 2024 following his standout performance against Australia in the recently concluded Border-Gavaskar Trophy, reported PTI.

Earlier in December, Bumrah picked up 22 wickets in the three Tests at a phenomenal average of 14.22. He finished the five-match Test series with 32 wickets in hand, even though he could not bowl in Australia’s second innings in Sydney because of a back spasm.

Bumrah's standout spells, including nine wickets in both the Brisbane and Melbourne Tests, kept India in the competition. He also won the Player of the Series award for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

In the first innings of the fifth Test against Australia in Sydney, Bumrah scored 22 off 17 balls, which is the highest score by an Indian captain in BT 2024-25.

This remarkable performance also earned Bumrah the highest rating points by any Indian bowler in the ICC Test Player Rankings.

Other players on the list

Along with Jasprit Bumrah, the second player who has been nominated for the prestigious award is Australian skipper Pat Cummins, who led his team to win the BGT series against India by 3-1. In the three Tests he played in December, Cummins claimed 17 wickets at an average of 17.64.

In addition to his bowling exploits, Cummins contributed with the bat and scored 49 and 41 in Melbourne. He also picked up 6 wickets in the match, helping Australia secure another important win.

The third player on the list is South African seamer Dane Paterson, who took 13 wickets in two Tests at an average of 16.92 and helped the Proteas seal a place against the Aussies in the World Test Championship final later this year.

His figures of 5/71 against Sri Lanka and 5/61 against Pakistan played a key role in South Africa's victories.

With agency inputs.