Heather Knight, Jaskaran Malhotra nominated for ICC Player of the Month awards for September

Dubai: Indian-born American Jaskaran Malhotra, who became only the fourth player to hit six sixes in an over in an international match, was on Wednesday named among three nominees for the ICC Men’s Player of the Month for September. The other two men’s nominees were Bangladesh spinner Nasum Ahmed and Nepal’s leg-spinner Sandeep Lamichhane. [caption id=“attachment_9720971” align=“alignnone” width=“640”]  England captain Heather Knight. Image credit: Twitter/@englandcricket[/caption] England captain Heather Knight, her compatriot Charlie Dean and South Africa’s Lizelle Lee were nominated for the ICC Women’s Player of the Month. The 31-year-old Malhotra, who was born in Chandigarh and captained Himachal Pradesh at U-19 level, smashed six sixes in an over against Papua New Guinea in a World Cup League 2 fixture in Oman on 9 September during a scintillating knock of 173 not out. Overall, in six ODIs, he has scored 261 runs at an average of 87 and a strike-rate of 104.40. Nasum Ahmed was Bangladesh’s star performer in their home T20I series against New Zealand, leaving the visitors bamboozled with his accurate line and length. He picked up eight wickets in the series with a sensational performance of 4/10 in the fourth match. His exploits helped the hosts to emerge victorious with a margin of 3-2 against the visitors. Lamichhane has already impressed one and all with his trickery in his short career so far. He continued his impressive run in the month of September, emerging as the standout bowler in the World Cup League 2. In six ODIs, he picked up a staggering 18 wickets at an average of 7.38. His performance against Papua New Guinea, against whom he ended with figures of 6/11, grabbed the attention of one and all. Among women, Charlie Dean was a revelation in the home ODI series against New Zealand, emerging as the leading wicket-taker for the hosts with 10 scalps at an average of 19.20 and an economy rate of 4.64. With the help of the off-break bowler’s performances, England won the series 4-1, with her major contributions coming in the second (4/36) and the fourth (3/52) matches respectively. England skipper Heather Knight was also on fire, both with the bat and ball, during the series against New Zealand. In five ODIs, she scored 214 runs at an average of 42.80 and a strike-rate of 88.06. Her telling contribution came in the first and the fourth ODIs, where she played substantial knocks of 89 and 101 respectively. She also scalped up three wickets, at a miserly economy rate of 4.66. The final women’s nominee, Lizelle Lee was in a league of her own during the ODI series against the West Indies in the Caribbean. In four matches, she scored 248 runs at a stunning average of 124. Emerging as the leading run-scorer in the series, she played three brilliant knocks of 91 not out, 78 not out and 61 in the four matches.