Jasprit Bumrah and Smriti Mandhana Named ICC Players of the Month for June

In June 2024, India's pacer Jasprit Bumrah was named the ICC Men's Player of the Month, while Smriti Mandhana was honored as the ICC Women's Player of the Month. This marks the first time either player has received this accolade.

On Tuesday, the International Cricket Council (ICC) announced the names of the best male and female cricketers for the month of June. This is also the first instance where players from the same country have been selected as the best in both the men's and women's categories in the same month.

Jasprit Bumrah played a pivotal role in helping India secure the championship in the T20 World Cup held last month. He took 15 wickets in 8 innings during the World Cup, boasting an economy rate of just 4.17 and conceding an average of only 8.26 runs per match. Due to his outstanding performance, Bumrah was awarded the Player of the Tournament.

Given his stellar performance in the World Cup, it was anticipated that he would be named the Player of the Month for June. Bumrah surpassed his teammate Rohit Sharma and Afghanistan's Rahmanullah Gurbaz to win this honor.

On the other hand, Smriti Mandhana was named the best female player for her extraordinary batting performance against South Africa in June. She scored centuries in two of the three matches and a half-century in one. Her scores in those three innings were 117, 136, and 90 runs. Additionally, Smriti played a superb inning of 149 runs in the only Test match against South Africa. Consequently, she surpassed England's Maia Bouchier and Sri Lanka's Vishmi Gunaratne to win the Player of the Month award.