5 undeserving recipients of 2016 ICC awards

Earlier today, the International Cricket Council announced the winners of the 2016 ICC awards. India’s R Ashwin ran away with the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for the ICC Cricketer of the Year and the ICC Test Cricketer of the Year award. South African opener Quinton de Kock was named the ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year while Bangladesh’s Mustafizur Rahman was named the ICC Emerging Cricketer of the Year.

ICC also announced the Test Team of the Year and the ODI Team of the Year, led by Alastair Cook and Virat Kohli respectively. Though people were questioning Kohli’s absence from the Test team, the Indian skipper’s numbers in the format in the 12-month period (14 September 2015 to 20 September 2016) failed to back up the claims by the fans.

But, few deserving cricketers were not considered for the 2016 awards and few undeserving names ran away with the top prizes. The same can be said about the names that feature in the ICC Teams of the Year. Let us take a look at the undeserving names that feature in the ICC awards.

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#1 Mustafizur Rahman

Bangladeshi pacer Mustafizur Rahman made a giant stride into international cricket by claiming back-to-back five-wicket hauls against a strong Indian batting order in his first two matches. Since then, there is no turning back for the Fizz as he became one of the important members of the Bangladeshi team.

Earlier today, he was awarded the ICC Emerging Cricketer of the Year. In the 12-month period that is taken into consideration, Mustafizur Rahman has played just 13 matches (3 ODIs and 10 T20Is) and ended up taking 27 wickets at an average of 11.74.

On the other hand, few players played more matches and performed consistently throughout. Kusal Mendis, who is the backbone of the Sri Lankan batting across all the three formats is one name that comes to our mind.

Apart from him, there are KL Rahul, who averages over 100 across the three formats in the given period and Jasprit Bumrah, who ended 2016 as the leading wicket-taker in T20Is and scalped a total of 37 wickets in 24 matches in his first year in International cricket.

Moreover, one name that stood out and deserved to be named as the ICC Emerging Cricketer of the Year ahead of Mustafizur is South Africa’s Kagiso Rabada. Both Rabada and Mustafizur made their debut almost at the same time and since then, Rabada’s numbers have been very impressive.

In the 12-month period given by the ICC, Rabada ended up second on the list of wicket-takers behind the Cricketer of the Year, R Ashwin. Rabada picked up 67 wickets in 32 matches across all the three formats at an average of just over 23.

#2 Dale Steyn

Over the last few years, Dale Steyn is someone who regularly features in the ICC Test Team of the Year. But this time, he didn’t deserve to be picked in the team. The Proteas speedster played just 4 matches in the given period and was out injured for the majority of the time.

In the four games, he played, Steyn picked just 14 wickets and this does not justify his spot in the ICC Team of the Year. His fellow pacer in the Test Team of the Year, Mitchell Starc, did miss few matches due to injury but has picked up 37 wickets in six matches at an average of 18.

Ahead of Dale Steyn, the panel that included former Indian skipper Rahul Dravid, Sri Lankan great Kumar Sangakkara and Gary Kirsten should have gone with either James Anderson or Stuart Broad. The England pace duo was sensational in the given period as they both picked 50 wickets each in the format.

Anderson’s average of 19.24 is the second best for a pacer with a minimum of 15 wickets and still he missed out from the ICC Test Team of the Year.

#3 Ravindra Jadeja

Three wickets in five ODIs at an economy of almost 6 won’t even guarantee a frontline bowler a place in the starting XI for the team’s next assignment. But, these numbers have earned Indian all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja a place in the ICC ODI Team of the Year.

Unlike the other cases, it is very easy to name a handful of names that deserved a place in the ODI Team of the Year than Ravindra Jadeja. Leading wicket-taker in ODIs in the 12-month period, Imran Tahir with 28 wickets in 15 matches at an average of 27.14 and economy of 5.42 was completely ignored and was named as the 12^th man for the ICC ODI Team of the Year.

Ironically, Jadeja’s spin twin in the XI, Sunil Narine’s place in the team is also questionable as the West Indian has picked 16 wickets in 10 matches, but his economy of 3.90 backs up the decision to have Narine in the team. But in Jadeja’s case, there is nothing to prove that the Indian deserved a place in the XI.

#4 Adam Voges

Australian skipper Steve Smith is one of the most improved cricketers in the last three years and was given the Sir Garfield Sobers trophy for ICC Cricketer of the Year award last year. He was also named the ICC Test Cricketer of the Year in 2015 and one year down the line, he does not even feature in the ICC Test Team of the Year.

Smith was named as the 12^th man for the ICC Test Team of the Year while his teammate Adam Voges was named in the XI. One cannot deny that Voges had a remarkable time in Test cricket, but at the same time, Smith was even more consistent than Voges.

Voges amassed 1087 runs in 11 matches at an average of over 90 while Smith averages 67 with 1004 runs in the same number of matches.

Out of the 1087 runs, Voges scored 375 runs without getting dismissed in the three-match Test series against West Indies earlier this year. This puts him better than Smith as far as the numbers are concerned, but the Australian skipper had more impact than the Western Australia batsman and deserved a place in the ICC Test Team of the Year more than his compatriot.

#5 Ravichandran Ashwin

If someone who deserved to win the ICC Test Cricketer of the Year award, then it is none other than the eventual winner R Ashwin. The same cannot be said about Ashwin winning the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for ICC Cricketer of the Year award as there were few other deserving candidates than Ashwin.

In the 29 matches he played across all the three formats, Ashwin picked up 76 wickets, the most by any bowler. Among these 76, he picked 48 wickets in 8 Test matches at an average of 15.39, a number that suggests how effective he was in this period in the longest format of the game.

He managed to pick 25 T20I wickets in 18 matches at an economy of just over run-a-ball, something that is excellent in the format.

But when it comes to his numbers in ODIs, Ashwin has played just 3 matches in this format and picked 3 wickets. The number of ODI matches he played in the given period suggests that he is someone who did not stamp his authority with his performance across all the three formats. At the same time, few names have performed consistently across all the three formats and were ignored by the ICC for Cricketer of the Year award.

Joe Root is someone who has scored 2551 runs in 43 matches at an average of over 50 in that particular period. David Warner with 1913 runs in 35 matches at 46.65 runs per innings and the Player of the tournament in the 2016 World T20 and Virat Kohli are some other names that deserved to win this award.

Kohli scored 1762 runs in 34 matches at an average of over 60 in the given period across all the three formats.