Left-arm Indian pacer Arshdeep Singh, who played a crucial role in India’s T20 World Cup 2024 triumph, was on Saturday named ICC Men’s T20I Cricketer of the Year 2024. The India pacer thus pipped Pakistan’s Babar Azam, Australian Travis Head and Zimbabwe’s Sikander Raza to pocket the prestigious award.
The 25-year-old took 36 wickets in 18 matches in 2024, thus cementing his reputation as one of the leading short format bowlers in the game. He was also named in the ICC T20I Team of the Year 2024 earlier in the day, along side Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya.
One of the crucial fast bowlers in the shortest format for India in the past few years, Arshdeep showcased his class in both powerplay and death overs during the T20 World Cup last year. He ended the tournament as the joint highest wicket-taker alongside Afghanistan’s Fazalhaq Farooqi with 17 scalps across eight matches.
In the final, Arshdeep Singh claimed two wickets for 20 runs and picked up South African captain Aiden Markram early and breaking a threatening partnership by removing Quinton de Kock later.
Tasked with bowling the penultimate over, Arshdeep conceded just four runs, setting the stage for Hardik Pandya to seal the win.
