Dubai, Jan 25 Arshdeep Singh, India’s leading wicket-taker in 2024, was named the ICC Men’s T20 Cricketer of the Year at the ICC Awards on Saturday.
The left-arm pacer ended India’s wait for a major ICC trophy with victory at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 in the Caribbean and USA in June and cemented his reputation as one of the leading powerplay and death bowlers in the game.
The 25-year-old Arshdeep has long been regarded as a top-order batsman, and India have reposed great faith in his ability since his full international debut in 2022 and 2024 was the year Arshdeep established himself as a fully-fledged world-class bowler in T20I cricket, taking a plethora of wickets with the new ball and proving to be consistently economical in the death overs on a variety of surfaces. Arshdeep was the leading Indian wicket-taker in T20s that year, taking 36 wickets in just 18 matches.
He played a huge role in India’s title triumph at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup and stepped up as the leader of the attack as selectors ushered in a new era for the T20 team after the win in the Caribbean. Only four players in the world have taken more T20 wickets than Arshdeep in a calendar year – Saudi Arabia’s Usman Najib (38), Sri Lanka’s Vanindu Hasaranga (38), UAE’s Junaid Siddiqui (40) and Hong Kong’s Ehsan Khan (46) – and all four have played more matches. Of these bowlers, only Hasaranga has played for a Full Member nation.
Arshdeep took wickets at an average of just 15.31 and finished the year with an economy rate of 7.49, despite bowling mostly in the powerplay and death overs. He was a consistent wicket-taker, taking wickets at a strike rate of 10.80.
Arshdeep had several stellar performances in the year, most notably when he thrashed the USA in New York during the group stage of the T20 World Cup, taking a majestic 4/9 in his four overs.
But Arshdeep’s most important performance of the year came on the biggest stage, as he played a key role in India successfully defending a score of 176 in the World Cup final in Barbados.
As part of the pace bowling trio alongside Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya that effectively won the game for India, Arshdeep’s impressive figures of 2/20 in four overs tell only part of the story.
Best of all with the new ball, Arshdeep had dangerous South Africa skipper Aiden Markram caught behind in the powerplay in just the third over. And when India needed wickets in the middle overs, Arshdeep dismissed the set Quinton de Kock.
India’s collective effort in the death overs was amazing as South Africa fell seven runs short of their target and Arshdeep played a key role in that, coming back to bowl the penultimate over when South Africa needed 20 runs from 12 balls.
Arshdeep bowled a near-perfect death over under the most pressure, conceding just four runs and leaving Hardik Pandya to defend 16 runs in the final over, a job he did brilliantly.
A brilliant performance in the powerplay, a wicket in the middle overs and economical bowling in the death overs – Arshdeep delivered when it mattered most.
Earlier in the day, Arshdeep was also named in the Rohit Sharma-led ICC Men’s T20 Team of the Year and it also included Pandya and Bumrah as the other Indian players.
