The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Friday revealed the final nominees of the ICC Men's Cricketer of the Year Award, also known as the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy.
This award is annually given to the player who made a big impact across multiple formats during a calendar year and had been an epitome of sheer consistency and contribution.
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It is considered to be the most prestigious individual award in cricket. You could say that it's the Ballon d'Or of cricket. It's named after former West Indies all-rounder and one of the greatest of the greats of the game, Sir Garfield Sobers.
The first time this award was given to a player was for the calendar year 2004, which was won by Rahul Dravid. The current holder of the award is Pakistan's Babar Azam.
Virat Kohli (2017, 2018), Mitchell Johnson (2009, 2014) and Ricky Ponting (2006, 2007) are the only players in cricket history to win it more than once.
The nominees for this award have been revealed after ICC initially revealed the shortlisted players for a host of other awards earlier this week on Wednesday, January 3.
The Sporting News takes a look at the nominees for the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy 2023.
MORE: ICC Men's Test Rankings - Australia dethrone India in latest update
ICC Men's Cricketer of the Year Award: Who are the nominees for 2023?
The four nominees for this award are:
- Virat Kohli (India)
- Ravindra Jadeja (India)
- Pat Cummins (Australia)
- Travis Head (Australia)
How did the nominees of the 2023 ICC Men's Cricketer of the Year Award perform?
Before we give our verdict on who should be the most deserving recipient for this award, let's take a look at each player's numbers in 2023.
Virat Kohli
2023 was a fascinating year for Kohli, who scored 2048 runs across formats (second-most behind Shubman Gill's 2154 runs) at an average of over 66, scoring eight centuries (most in 2023) and 10 fifties. He had an epoch-making 2023 World Cup campaign, scoring 765 runs and bringing up his 50th ODI century.
In Tests, too, he brought the monkey off his back as he scored a red-ball cricket century for the first time since 2019. If he wins the award, he will become the first player in history to win the award three times.
| Matches | Innings | Runs | Average | S.R. | 50s | 100s | HS | |
| Tests | 8 | 12 | 671 | 55.92 | 54.73 | 2 | 2 | 186 |
| ODIs | 27 | 24 | 1377 | 72.47 | 99.13 | 8 | 6 | 166* |
| Total | 35 | 36 | 2048 | 66.06 | 78.31 | 10 | 8 | 186 |
Ravindra Jadeja
Jadeja finished 2023 as the highest wicket-taker across all formats, finishing with 66 wickets in 35 matches at an average of 23.74. He also took three five-wicket hauls and was a handy contributor with the bat, scoring 613 runs.
Batting numbers:
| Matches | Innings | Runs | Average | S.R. | 50s | 100s | HS | |
| Tests | 7 | 9 | 281 | 35.13 | 41.62 | 2 | 0 | 70 |
| ODIs | 26 | 17 | 309 | 30.90 | 75.00 | 0 | 0 | 45* |
| T20I | 2 | 2 | 23 | 11.50 | 143.75 | 0 | 0 | 19 |
| Total | 35 | 28 | 613 | 30.65 | 55.57 | 2 | 0 | 70 |
Bowling numbers:
| Matches | Innings | Wickets | Average | Econ. | S.R. | 5-fers | Best | |
| Tests | 7 | 14 | 33 | 19.39 | 2.39 | 48.5 | 2 | 7-42 |
| ODIs | 26 | 23 | 31 | 28.19 | 4.60 | 36.7 | 1 | 5-33 |
| T20I | 2 | 2 | 2 | 26.50 | 9.08 | 17.5 | 0 | 2-25 |
| Total | 35 | 39 | 66 | 23.74 | 3.38 | 42.0 | 3 | 7-42 |
Pat Cummins
Moving on to the Australian duo, let's talk about Pat Cummins. Cummins, who is Australia's skipper in all formats, led the Kangaroos to two ICC titles: the World Test Championship (WTC) 2023 Final and the 2023 World Cup. Both wins came against India. The 30-year-old took 42 wickets in 11 Tests and 17 wickets in 13 ODIs, but his biggest contribution was captaining the team to those two ICC titles.
| Matches | Innings | Wickets | Average | Econ. | S.R. | 5-fers | Best | |
| Tests | 11 | 19 | 42 | 27.50 | 3.60 | 45.7 | 3 | 6-91 |
| ODIs | 13 | 13 | 17 | 36.35 | 5.74 | 37.9 | 0 | 3-51 |
| Total | 24 | 32 | 59 | 30.05 | 4.14 | 43.4 | 3 | 6-91 |
Travis Head
Last, but not the least, Travis Head was India's chief nemesis with incredible, clutch performances in the WTC Final and the 2023 World Cup Final, scoring centuries in both games to help the Aussies win. The southpaw finished as the fifth-highest run-scorer in 2023 with 1698 runs at an average of over 43.
| Matches | Innings | Runs | Average | S.R. | 50s | 100s | HS | |
| Tests | 12 | 23 | 919 | 41.77 | 75.57 | 5 | 1 | 163 |
| ODIs | 13 | 13 | 570 | 51.81 | 133.17 | 3 | 2 | 137 |
| T20I | 6 | 6 | 209 | 34.83 | 174.16 | 1 | 0 | 91 |
| Total | 31 | 42 | 1698 | 43.53 | 96.25 | 9 | 3 | 163 |
Who is the favourite to win the 2023 ICC Men's Cricketer of the Year Award?
While all the players are equally deserving of the award, in our opinion, Travis Head is one of the most deserving candidates to win the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy Award.
He had a fantastic year in both Tests and ODIs, scoring a century in the WTC Final to help Aussies win against India and then an incredible 137-run in the final of the 2023 World Cup after they were struggling at 47-3 chasing a target of 241.
However, Pat Cummins cannot be overlooked too, having led his side admirably to retaining the Ashes away from home, WTC win, ODI World Cup victory and more.
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