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India's leading T20I wicket-taker, Arshdeep Singh, has been crowned ICC Men's T20I Cricketer of the Year 2024.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) took to X to announce that Arshdeep has bagged the award after fending off competition from Zimbabwe's Sikandar Raza, Australia's Travis Head and Pakistan's Babar Azam. Arshdeep was the leading Indian wicket-taker in T20 Internationals in 2024, taking 36 wickets in just 18 games. He played a huge part in India's journey to the title at the T20 World Cup 2024 in the Caribbean and the USA back in June 2024. The left-arm pace gun starred as India ended their ICC trophy hiatus with a victory in the T20 World Cup 2024. Following India's triumph, Arshdeep has gone on to cement his reputation as one of the leading powerplay and death bowling specialists in the format. The 25-year-old has long been tipped for the top, especially after his groundbreaking display in the marquee event. The Indian team has put a great deal of faith in his ability since making his full international debut in 2022. ButIn 2024 Arshdeep truly established himself as a world-class bowler in T20l format, taking heaps of wickets with the ball and maintaining his economical nature in the death overs on different venues and surfaces. Arshdeep has spearheaded India's pace attack as the selectors continue to work towards building a new era for the T20 squad following the triumph in the Caribbean. The Indian quick took his wickets at an average of a mere 15.31. Despite predominantly bowling in the powerplay and death overs, he finished 2024 with an economy rate of 7.49. He was a constant wicket-taking threat, taking his wickets at a strike rate of 10.80. The 25-year-old had numerous impressive displays in 2024, not least when he ripped through the USA in New York in the T20 World Cup group stage, with remarkable returns of 4/9 in his four-over spell. But Arshdeep's most significant performance of the year came when stakes went past the ceiling. He played a huge part in helping India, successfully defend their total of 176 in the World Cup final in Barbados. As part of a pace trio with Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya that effectively won the game for India, Arshdeep's terrific figures of 2/20 from four overs only tell part of the story. India needed a wicket in the middle overs, and it was Arshdeep who provided the breakthrough, dismissing a set Quinton de Kock when the Proteas looked to be in control of the chase. He returned to the attack to bowl the penultimate over, with South Africa requiring 20 from 12 deliveries. Arshdeep delivered a perfect death over under immense pressure, conceding just four runs to leave Hardik Pandya with 16 runs to defend in the final over, a job that the experienced all-rounder spectacularly did. (ANI
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