Pat Cummins finds place among nominees for ICC Men's Player of the Month for December 2023

Australian Test and ODI skipper Pat Cummins is among the three nominees for the ICC Men's Player of the Month for December 2023, with the others being Taijul Islam and Glenn Phillips.

Cummins, the skipper, had a truly incredible year. He won the World Test Championship final as well as the 2023 World Cup final, both against India, and also managed to retain the Ashes away in England. Cummins ended the year with a brilliant performance in the first two Tests of the series against Pakistan.

Pat Cummins contributed with just three wickets in the first Test at Perth, where Australia managed to win comfortably. However, when things got tight in the second Test with Pakistan being 110/2 chasing 317, it was Cummins who stepped up and broke the game open for Australia.

He picked up fifers in both innings (5/48 & 5/49) including the big wicket of Mohammad Rizwan in the fourth innings that turned the game decisively towards the hosts. Pat Cummins will arguably be the front-runner to win this award in a year full of silverware for him.

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Besides Pat Cummins, Taijul Islam and Glenn Phillips were brilliant for their respective teams as well

Left-arm spinner Taijul Islam played a huge role in helping Bangladesh best New Zealand in the first of the two Tests that they played at home. He picked up 10 wickets in the first Test where the hosts comfortably thrashed the Kiwis by 150 runs.

While Bangladesh lost the second Test, Taijul picked up five more wickets and ended up with the Player of the Series award for his 15 scalps overall in the two bouts.

New Zealand cricketer Glenn Phillips repaid the faith shown by the selectors in him with a brilliant all-round performance in the same series. He scored 181 runs in two Tests, including a blistering knock of 87(72) and then a heroic 40* to help the Kiwis level the series. The 27-year-old was also handy with his off-spin, giving the Kiwis another option while playing in the subcontinent.