Dubai: The ICC has announced the shortlists for the Player of the Month awards for September 2026 — and India dominate, with four of the six nominees wearing blue.
Men’s shortlist
Shubman Gill is in line for his fifth Player of the Month award after a staggering September: 333 runs in two ODIs against West Indies, including 110 in Thiruvananthapuram and then the fastest ODI double-century ever — 223 off just 133 balls — in a chase of 406.
Abhishek Sharma, last September’s winner, smashed 229 runs in four T20Is, including a 30-ball century against Afghanistan at Kotla — the fastest T20I hundred by an Indian (breaking Rohit Sharma’s 35-ball record from 2017) and the fastest by any batter from a Full Member nation. His 108 came off just 34 balls.
Sikandar Raza was Zimbabwe’s rock against Australia: 183 ODI runs at 91.50 (57, 45, 81*) plus three wickets at 5.46, and 90 more runs in the T20Is.
Women’s shortlist
Chamari Athapaththu scored 226 runs and took 14 wickets in seven T20Is, including an astonishing 7 for 5 — with a hat-trick — against Indonesia in the Women’s Asia Cup.
Sree Charani claimed 18 wickets in seven T20Is and reached 817 rating points — the highest ever in the women’s T20I bowling rankings.
Shafali Verma smashed 360 runs in seven T20Is, including a 49-ball hundred against Bangladesh, finishing as the Women’s Asia Cup’s leading run-scorer.
Who wins?
Gill’s double-hundred in a 406 chase is the kind of innings awards are made for — but Abhishek’s 30-ball ton broke a nine-year-old Rohit Sharma record. The women’s race is even tighter. Voting is open on the ICC’s platforms.
Image: Wikimedia Commons
