Suryakumar, Mandhana nominated for ICC T20 Cricketer of the Year awards

Suryakumar Yadav and Smriti Mandhana were on Thursday nominated for the ICC T20 Cricketer of the Year awards following their superb performances in 2022.

Suryakumar was nominated alongside Pakistan's Mohammad Rizwan and Zimbabwe allrounder Sikandar Raza for the men's award while Mandhana will face competition from Australia allrounder Tahlia McGrath and New Zealand allrounder Sophie Devine in the women's category.

Suryakumar had one of the best seasons in the T20I format as he bulldozed multiple records by scoring two hundreds and nine fifties for his tally of 1164 runs from 31 matches at a staggering strike rate of 187.2.

The righthander became the second batter to score 1000-plus T20I runs in a single year and smashed 68 sixes which is by far the highest number in world cricket.

Mandhana, who won the award last year, scored 594 runs from 23 matches at a strike rate of 133.5, including five fifties. The Indian vice-captain also reached 2,500 T20I runs and scored the fastest fifty by an Indian in Women's T20Is in the Commonwealth Games semifinal against England.

Mandhana's knocks were crucial in memorable wins for India as they won the Women's Asia Cup in Bangladesh, won the silver medal at Commonwealth Games and capped it off with their first ever Super Over win.

In that match against the world champions, Mandhana smashed 79 off 49 balls at the DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai and then scored 13 off 3 balls in the Super Over. The win also remains Australia's only defeat in the entire year.

There were no nominations for Indians in the Women's ODI Cricketer of the Year as South African pacer Shabnim Ismail, New Zealand Amelia Kerr, England's Nat Sciver and Australian captain Alyssa Healy were shortlisted.

The same was the case for the Men's ODI Cricketer of the Year award as Pakistan captain Babar Azam, Australian leggie Adam Zampa, West Indies batter Shai Hope Zimbabwe's Sikandar Raza were nominated.