Dubai: Indian wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant was named Emerging Player of the Year by the International Cricket Council (ICC) on Tuesday.
The 21-year-old was picked by ICC’s voting academy for scoring 537 runs with a century, two fifties in eight Tests, 40 catches and two stumpings during the voting period. In three ODIs, Pant scored 41 runs and took three catches, and in eight T20Is he scored 114 runs and pouched two catches.
Champion babysitter and champion cricketer. @RishabPant777 is the ICC Men’s Emerging Cricketer of the Year 2018!#ICCAwards🆠pic.twitter.com/xrVuyNjao0
— ICC (@ICC) January 22, 2019
India registered their maiden ODI and Test series victory over Australia, both by 2-1 on Australian soil. The Virat Kohli-led side levelled the T20I series in November last year.
The wicketkeeper-batsman ended the five-Test series as the second-highest run-scorer after Cheteshwar Pujara in Australia, notching 350 runs in seven innings. While behind the stumps, he broke the record for most catches (20) by an Indian wicket-keeper in a Test series.
Pant, who made his Test debut against England last year, has cemented his place in the Test squad. In nine Tests, he has blazed two centuries each in England and Australia, amassed 696 runs with an impressive average of 49.7 and a healthy strike rate.
