ICC announces nominees for Men's Test Cricketer of the Year award, Babar Azam and Joe Root excluded

The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Friday announced the nominees for the men’s Test Cricketer of the Year award 2022 for honoring outstanding contributions in red-ball cricket. Notably, no Indian player found a mention on this elite list which is dominated by two Englishmen.

The Englishmen include the dynamic duo of Test captain and star all-rounder Ben Stokes and the hard-hitting batter Jonny Bairstow. The other members of this category are Australian Test opener Usman Khawaja and the Proteas pace spearhead Kagiso Rabada.

Surprisingly, Pakistan captain Babar Azam and England’s modern-day Test great Joe Root who are the top-two run-getters in the longest format this year are not included in the list.

Ben Stokes nominated after reviving England’s Test fortunes

Stokes has found a special mention in this awards category after his all-round heroics in red-ball cricket in the last six months and also for leading the Three Lions outstandingly well from the front.

The southpaw amassed 870 runs including two centuries and four half-centuries and bagged 26 scalps from 15 matches and also led England to nine Test victories in the 10 games that he captained. Their solitary loss came against South Africa at home.

His teammate Bairstow also enjoyed a dream run in the longest format this year as he played an attacking brand of cricket in the home Test series against New Zealand and India.

Bairstow finished 2022 with 1061 runs from 10 matches averaging 66.31 and a strike rate of 76 including six centuries and a solitary half-century.

Usman Khawaja might not be in the Australian selectors’ scheme of things in white-ball cricket for a while, but he is making the most of his chances in red-ball cricket. The Pakistan-born cricketer was consistent throughout the year on the 22 yards in whites as he finished with 1080 runs from 11 matches including four centuries and five half-centuries.

Kagiso Rabada was South Africa’s outstanding performer with the ball in hand this year in what happened to be a hectic schedule for the Proteas. His best Test performances this year came in the form of a fifer against England at the ‘Mecca’ of Cricket, Lord’s.

The Proteas pace spearhead signs off 2022 with 47 scalps to his name from nine matches including two five-wicket hauls.