Head was the man of the match in the semifinal and the final; Shami ended the tournament as the leading wicket-taker, while Maxwell scored the fastest ODI century and the first double century while chasing in ODIs.
After their incredible ODI World Cup 2023 campaigns, finalists Mohammed Shami, Travis Head, and Glenn Maxwell have been nominated for the ICC Player of the Month award for November. What makes the nominations interesting is that the top scorer of the ODI World Cup, Virat Kohli, was not ignored. The former Indian skipper broke several records during the tournament but has failed to make the cut.
The ICC has decided to snub the modern great and instead selected Shami and Maxwell over him, who failed to perform in the World Cup Final. Other star performers like Adam Zampa, Rohit Sharma, Marco Jansen, Gerald Coetzee, and Rachin Ravindra were also ignored.
Who deserves the ICC Player of the Month award for November?
If we judge by numbers, Mohammed Shami should take the award home for his 15 wickets at 12.06 while giving away 5.68 runs an over. However, if we are talking about impact, Glenn Maxwell or Travis Head may inch ahead of the Indian pacer.
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A case for Travis Head taking the ICC Player of the Month award ahead of Glenn Maxwell & Mohammed Shami
Head had joined the Australians when they were looking down and out. Since he joined the side, Australia went on to beat New Zealand, England, South Africa, and India. The batter scored 220 runs in 5 matches, with fifty and a hundred to his name. Not only that, Head was also the ‘player of the match’ in both the semifinal and final.
If we look at Maxwell, he scored 204 runs at a strike rate of 152.23 in the ODI World Cup and also had two wickets to his name. He scored the first ODI double hundred while chasing and took Australia from 91/7 to 292/7. As if this were not enough, he then scored his 4th T20I century against India. Only one word suits the batter: impact.
Mohammed Shami has a weaker case when compared to the other two for the ICC player of the month award. They both lifted the World Cup title, but all Shami got was misery in return for his splendid returns. The pacer ended up being the leading wicket-taker at the World Cup and took 7/57 in the semifinals.
