"Even I don't remember" - Aakash Chopra on ICC Cricketer of the Year in the last 5 years

Former India player Aakash Chopra has questioned the relevance of the ICC (International Cricket Council) awards, opining that no one remembers the winners. He added that he couldn't recall the ICC Cricketer of the Year award winners over the last five years.

The ICC recently announced their annual awards for 2024 for both men and women. They honored the best player across formats, separately for each format, and also chose the team of the year for every format.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel 'Aakash Chopra,' the former India opener praised Jasprit Bumrah for being chosen as the ICC Cricketer of the Year 2024. However, Chopra wondered whether anyone could recall who won the accolade in the last five years.

"Jasprit Bumrah is the cricketer of the year. This is the Sir Garfield Sobers Award, which is phenomenal. Bowlers don't get it generally. Ravichandran Ashwin got it, but he had scored runs as well and it is slightly difficult for a pure bowler to get it. However, he (Bumrah) has done an incredible job," he said (1:35).

"He won the T20 World Cup and took 71 wickets in Test cricket. Arshdeep Singh (ICC T20I Cricketer of the Year 2024) is also there. However, a question came to my mind. Without googling, can you tell me who was the Player of the Year in the last 5 years? You won't remember. Even I don't remember," Chopra added.

Aakash Chopra opined that the ICC awards should be celebrated globally like the Ballon d'Or in football. He opined that Indian fans valued the award only when one of their players won it.

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"They all make sense" - Aakash Chopra on the 4 Indians in the ICC T20I Team of the Year 2024

India beat South Africa to win the 2024 T20 World Cup. [P/C: Getty]

While acknowledging that four Indians were deservedly included in the ICC T20I Team of the Year 2024, Aakash Chopra questioned why no South African player was chosen.

"They have also announced the teams of the year. Four Indians (Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah and Arshdeep Singh) are there in the T20I team of the year, and they all make sense. Interestingly, there is no South African in that. They lost to us in the final but the ICC couldn't put even one South African on this team," he said (3:30) in the same video.

While noting that World Test Championship (WTC) 2025 finalists South Africa weren't represented even in the ICC Test Team of the Year 2024, the former India opener pointed out that the ICC ODI Team of the Year 2024 was virtually an Asia XI.

"When I see the Test team of the year, you see Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja, which is good, but there is no South African here also. They played the T20 World Cup final and are in the WTC final. The ODI team is at a different level. It seems like an Asia XI has been made. If you leave one guy (Sherfane Rutherford), all the others are Asians," Chopra observed.

Aakash Chopra questioned whether the ODI Team of the Year had any relevance, as most teams, like India, played very few 50-over matches. He added that Bangladesh had gone downhill both on and off the field as they, just like South Africa, didn't have a representation in any of the three formats.