Afghanistan all-rounder named ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year
Cricket
The 24-year-old also enjoyed a strong year in T20Is and franchise cricket
(Web Desk) – Afghanistan all-rounder Azmatullah Omarzai has been named as the world’s leading One Day International performers in 2024, with his right-arm pace bowling and multi-faceted batting game helping take the Afghanistan team to a new level.
The 24-year-old also enjoyed a strong year in T20Is and franchise cricket, but it was in ODIs where he proved most influential. He finished the year as his national team’s second-highest run scorer (behind Rahmanullah Gurbaz) and second-highest wicket taker (behind AM Ghazanfar), with Afghanistan winning four of their five ODI series in 2024.
His individual excellence wasn’t enough to earn Afghanistan a series win away in Sri Lanka at the start of the year, but he was central to four straight ODI series wins for Afghanistan, as his team won against Ireland, South Africa, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe.
The Afghanistan all-rounder was a standout performer with bat and ball throughout the year, scoring his runs at an average of 52.12 and bagging his wickets at 20.47.
The 24-year-old’s brilliance lay not just in the overall numbers but in his individual performances, starting off in his very first ODI of the year, where he smashed an unbeaten 149* in a remarkable rearguard effort in defeat against Sri Lanka.
And a destructive 86* from just 50 deliveries against South Africa was another memorable performance, with his rapid scoring helping set up a crushing win in the second ODI to win the series.
Azmatullah repeatedly stood up when Afghanistan needed big contributions, but there are few better examples than with his series-defining performance in the third ODI against Bangladesh in Sharjah in November.
