Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma among ICC Player of the Month nominees, Pat Cummins leads men's list

Jemimah Rodrigues and Deepti Sharma were the stars for India in their two Test victories against England and Australia.

India's Jemimah Rodrigues and Deepti Sharma are among the nominees for the ICC Player of the Month award for December 2023. Australia captain Pat Cummins leads the men's nominees in the list that was announced by the International Cricket Council (ICC) on Monday. Jemimah and Deepti are joined by Zimbabwe's Precious Marange among the nominees for the women's award. The Indian players were stars of the side's back to back Test victories against England and Australia. Jemimah scored a crucial half-century walking in at 47/2 on Test debut against England at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai. Her innings came as part of a century stand with Satheesh Shubha. Against Australia, Jemimah once again stepped up with a 73 to aid India's strong first-innings total. She then went on to top the run-scoring charts for India in the ODI series against Australia, making scores of 82 and 44 in the first two matches.

Jemimah, Deepti and Cummins all made merry in Test cricket this month

Deepti pretty much powered India's victories in the Test matches with her all-round brilliance. She was player of the match against England, scoring 67 from No.7 and then recording figures of 5/7 and 4/32 with the ball to finish with nine wickets in the Test. Her five-for in the first innings saw England go from 108/3 to 136 all out. Against Australia she took the wicket of skipper Alyssa Healy and then scored 78 with the bat to set up India's lead. Deepti then took a five-wicket haul in the second ODI against Australia and also maintained an economy of 5.88 runs per over in the three T20Is against England.

Marange was the star of Zimbabwe's Africa Region Qualifier for the 2024 Women's T20 World Cup. The 41-year-old finished as the top wicket-taker with 13 scalps.

Cummins, Phillips, Taijul to vie for men's honours

Cummins's golden year as Australia captain could end with him winning the Player of the Month award for December. He ended the year by leading Australia to a whitewash over Pakistan in the three-match Test series that they hosted, with opener David Warner retiring from the longest format of the game and ODIs at the end of it. Cummins was also at his best with the ball throughout the series.

Taijul Islam was the star of Bangladesh's 150-run over New Zealand in the first Test earlier this month. Taijul ended with a 10-wicket haul, recording figures 4/109 and 6/75 in the two innings. Taijul's brilliance against New Zealand continued in the second Test as he plucked five more wickets albeit in a losing cause. The series ended with milestones aplenty for Taijul.