ICC announces nominees for Women’s T20I Cricketer of the Year

ICC unveiled the list of nominees for the ICC Women's T20I Cricketer of the Year 2022 on Thursday (December 29). The Indian top-order batter Smriti Mandhana is among the four nominees after stellar performances in T20I cricket this year. Pakistan's star all-rounder Nida Dar is also nominated for the award alongside New Zealand skipper Sophie Devine and Australian all-rounder Tahlia McGrath.

Smriti has been India's best batter across formats for last few years and has established herself as one of the best batters in the world. She is leading the scoring chart in T20I cricket in 2022 with 594 runs from 21 innings at an average of 33.00 and a strike rate of 133.48. She also scored five T20I fifties in 2022 with her recent 79-run knock against Australia being her best innings so far.

While chasing a 188-run target in the second T20I against Australia, Smriti smashed 79 runs off just 49 balls with the help of nine fours and four sixes. Her knock helped India to level with Australia's total and then she smashed 13 runs in a super over to hand Australia their first T20I defeat of 2022. 

Tahlia McGrath had a great 2022 in T20Is

Australian batting rounder Tahlia McGrath totally deserves the nomination and is among the leading candidate to win the prestigious ICC Women's T20I Cricketer of the Year 2022 award. She enjoyed a great year with 435 runs from just 11 T20I innings at an amazing average of 62.14 and a strike rate of 145.00 with the help of four fifties. Her best T20I innings of 2022 came during England's tour to Australia in January where she smashed 91* off 49 and took three wickets in the first T20I in Adelaide.

New Zealand skipper Sophie Devine has been in excellent form across formats with both bat and ball this year. She is the leading run-scorer for New Zealand in T20I cricket this year with 389 runs from 14 innings at an average of 29.92 and a strike rate of 112.42 with the help of two fifties. She also scored 500-plus runs in ODI cricket this year and ranks second in the current ICC T20I All-rounder's chart.

Nida Dar, the 35-year-old bowling all-rounder, played a match-winning knock against India during the women's 2022 Asia Cup. She smashed 56* off 37 balls and then took two wickets for 23 to register their first-ever T20I win over India. She is the leading run-scorer for Pakistan in T20Is in 2022 with 396 runs from 13 innings at an average of 56.57 and a strike rate of 122.60. Nida is also leading the bowling chart for Pakistan in T20Is this year with 15 wickets from 14 innings at an average of 18.33 and an economy rate of 5.55.