Bangladesh Women’s national cricket team skipper Nigar Sultana Joty has been nominated for ICC’s player of the match award for the month of September.
The International Cricket Council announced the nominees for the month of September on Wednesday. The Indian duo Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandhana have been nominated as well.
Joty guided the Bangladesh to victory in the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Qualifiers in the United Arab Emirates and helped seal a place at the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in South Africa in 2023.
She scored 180 runs at an average of 45 in five T20Is as her team qualified for the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates.
This makes Joty the first female Bangladesh national team player to be nominated for the award since Nahida Akter in November 2021.
Captaining her team to the championship, the right-handed batter had 180 runs at an average of 45 across five T20Is. The wicket-keeper batsman opened her account with a crucial score of 67 in her side’s first outing – a victory over eventual finalists Ireland, before registering an unbeaten 56 against the USA en route to clinching a spot in South Africa.
With this nomination, Nigar becomes the first Bangladeshi Women’s international to get shortlisted since November 2021, when her compatriot Nahida Akhter was nominated.
The 25-year-old is leading her team in the ongoing Asia Cup in Bangladesh. The women in red and green won the first match against Thailand in Sylhet, where Nigar scored an unbeaten 10 runs to take her team home, and in the second the batter scored a consolation 17-run knock as they were beaten by Pakistan.
