Dubai, Nov 5 (IANS) South Africa’s seam-bowling all-rounder Marco Jansen, Pakistan’s young all-rounder Arafat Minhas and West Indies captain Shai Hope have been shortlisted for the ICC Men’s Player of the Month award for October 2026.
Jansen was the driving force behind South Africa’s 2-1 comeback Test series win over Australia, where he finished with 198 runs and 13 wickets. His biggest impact, though, came in the second Test in Gqeberha. Jansen made 85 and returned figures of 5-33 and 1-34 as South Africa won by an innings and 31 runs to level the series.
He then struck another fifty and took three wickets in the decider at Cape Town. Jansen’s stupendous performances took him to the top of both the bowlers and all-rounders lists in the ICC Test rankings.
He is also the first South African to lead the Test bowling charts since Kagiso Rabada did so in 2024 and the first from his country to top the all-rounders table since Vernon Philander achieved it in August 2014.
On the other hand, Arafat, 21, was named Player of the Series as Pakistan won the home ODI tri-series, also featuring Sri Lanka and England. The left-arm spin bowling all-rounder made 149 runs from five matches at an average of 29.80 and a strike rate of 119.20. He also picked up nine wickets at 23.22, while conceding just 5.13 runs an over.
He was named Player of the Match in the clash against England for scoring 59 before taking 6-40, the second-best ODI figures by a Pakistan bowler at home. In the final game against Sri Lanka in Lahore, his 61 off 31 balls helped Pakistan chase down 326 to win the tri-series.
Hope, meanwhile, made three unbeaten centuries against India across both white-ball formats. The wicketkeeper-batter first hit an unbeaten 162 in the third ODI in New Chandigarh to hunt down 352, the highest successful run chase in their 50-over cricket history.
Hope carried that form into the five-match T20I series which ended in a 2-2 draw. He struck 102 not out in both the second match in Ranchi and the fourth game in Hyderabad, the latter coming off just 50 balls, and finished the series with 261 runs at a strike rate of 190.51.
–IANS
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