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Zimbabwe's pace spearhead Blessing Muzarabani, Bangladesh's versatile all-rounder Mehidy Hasan Miraz, and New Zealand's right-arm seamer Ben Sears have been announced as the nominees for ICC Men's Player of the Month for April 2025.
Muzarabani, a towering speedster from Zimbabwe, has been thriving on a scorching run since the beginning of the year. With a whip-like action, the 28-year-old played a starring role in the first Test against Bangladesh in Sylhet. He returned with figures of 3/50 in the first innings, which included the big fish, Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto. In his second turn, he scythed six scalps and gave away 72 runs as he steered Zimbabwe with his Player of the Match performance to a three-wicket triumph, their first victory in the format since March 2021. Muzarabani finished as Zimbabwe's top wicket-taker in the series with 10 wickets under his belt across the two Tests in Bangladesh at an average of 20.50. While Muzarabani stole the show in the first Test, Bangladesh's Mehidy Hasan grabbed the headlines in the second. The 27-year-old shone in the series opener and kept Bangladesh in the contest, claiming figures of 5/52 in the first innings and 5/50 in the second. He emerged as the mastermind behind Zimbabwe's downfall in the second Test. In arguably a performance to remember from him, Mehidy Hasan anchored Bangladesh's first innings with a touch of flamboyance and slammed 104 off 162 balls to lift the hosts to 444. He topped it up with another five-wicket haul and registered 5/32 in Zimbabwe's second innings to help Bangladesh end the series at 1-1 with a triumph by an innings and 106 runs in Chattogram. Sears found his rich vein of form with the ball for New Zealand. With his searing pace, he unleashed carnage on his home turf against Pakistan and picked up back-to-back five-wicket hauls in the last two matches of the ODI series and became the first player to achieve the milestone for the Blackcaps. In the second ODI against the Men in Green in Hamilton, Sears ran rampant and tore through Pakistan's middle order, finishing with figures of 5/59 and setting up an 84-run victory for the Kiwis. In the final ODI of the series, he dazzled with figures of 5/34 as New Zealand whitewashed Pakistan with a 3-0 series win. Sears was crowned with the Player of the Series award for his sensational performance. He picked up 10 wickets at an average of 9.30 at an economy rate of 5.07 to cap off a memorable April. (ANI)
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