Indian fast-bowling star Jasprit Bumrah has received the prestigious Sir Garfield Sobers Award for ICC Men’s Cricketer of the Year at the ICC Awards, celebrating his outstanding performances in 2024, where he excelled in both Test and T20 formats.
Bumrah, who was eloquently praised by Coldplay’s lead singer Chris Martin at one of the recent concerts in Ahmedabad, outshone fellow nominees Travis Head, Joe Root, and Harry Brook to claim the title, becoming the fifth Indian to win this prestigious award. He follows in the footsteps of Rahul Dravid (2004), Sachin Tendulkar (2010), Ravichandran Ashwin (2016), and Virat Kohli (2017, 2018).
In a year dominated by batters, Jasprit Bumrah demonstrated why he is regarded as one of the greatest, if not the greatest, fast bowlers in modern-day cricket.
Bumrah was the standout performer in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024, playing an instrumental role in the finals which India managed to cinch in a thrilling encounter. He claimed 15 wickets with an incredible average of 8.26 and an economy rate of just 4.17, earning him the Player of the Tournament award.
While Bumrah shone in white-ball cricket, his performances with the red ball were nothing short of phenomenal. The Indian pace sensation racked up a magnificent 71 Test wickets in just 13 matches, the highest by any bowler in 2024, and second only to Kapil Dev for the most by an Indian pacer in a calendar year. He also ended the year as the leading wicket-taker in Test cricket, comfortably surpassing Gus Atkinson’s tally of 52 wickets.
After solid showings against Bangladesh and New Zealand, Bumrah reached unprecedented heights during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy later in the year, claiming a staggering 32 wickets across five Tests and earning the Player of the Series award. The 31-year-old’s remarkable form extended to the 2023-2025 WTC cycle, where he set a record for pacers by taking 77 wickets in a single cycle.
