Shubman Gill, Abhishek, Shafali and Charani Nominated for ICC Awards

Four Indian cricketers Shubman Gill, Abhishek Sharma, Shafali Verma and Sree Charani have been nominated for the ICC Player of the Month awards for September 2026, following impressive performances across bilateral series, the Women’s Asia Cup and the Asian Games.

Gill and Abhishek have made the three-player shortlist for the men’s award alongside Zimbabwe captain Sikandar Raza, while Shafali and Charani are in contention for the women’s honour along with Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu.

Gill is in contention for his fifth ICC Player of the Month award after a spectacular ODI series against the West Indies. He scored 333 runs in two matches, including 110 in the opening ODI in Thiruvananthapuram. In the second ODI, he smashed an unbeaten 223 off 133 balls as India chased down 406 with eight wickets and 39 balls to spare. His innings included 26 fours and eight sixes, while his double-century came off just 117 deliveries, making it the fastest ODI double-century.

Abhishek, who won the award in September 2025, returned to his explosive best during India's T20I series against Afghanistan. He scored 229 runs in four T20Is, including 82 off 32 balls in the opening match and 39 off 19 in the second. His biggest performance came in the third game, when he smashed 108 off 34 balls, bringing up his century in just 30 deliveries. It became the fastest T20I century by a batter from an ICC Full Member nation and the fastest by an Indian, surpassing Rohit Sharma's previous 35-ball record.

In the women's category, Shafali Verma enjoyed a remarkable month with both bat and ball. She scored 360 runs in seven T20Is at a strike rate of 184.61 and took six wickets. She was the leading run-scorer in India's successful Women's Asia Cup campaign, scoring 236 runs, before adding 188 runs at the Asian Games. Her unbeaten 100 off 49 balls against Bangladesh in the semi-final was her maiden T20I century, followed by 48 in the gold-medal match against Sri Lanka.

Left-arm spinner Sree Charani also had a standout September, taking 18 wickets in seven T20Is at an economy rate of 3.30. She claimed 12 wickets during India's Asia Cup triumph, including 4/20 in the final against Sri Lanka, and then took eight wickets at the Asian Games. Her 2/13 in the gold-medal match against Sri Lanka helped India retain the women's cricket gold. Charani subsequently reached 817 rating points, becoming the highest-rated women's T20I bowler in ICC history, surpassing Australia's Megan Schutt's previous mark of 806.

The other nominees also enjoyed outstanding months. Sikandar Raza scored 183 runs and took three wickets in Zimbabwe's ODI series against Australia, while adding 90 runs and two wickets in three T20Is. Chamari Athapaththu scored 226 runs and took 14 wickets across seven T20Is, including remarkable figures of 7/5 with a hat-trick against Indonesia in the Women's Asia Cup.

The winners will be decided through votes from the ICC Voting Academy and fans worldwide. The academy carries 90 per cent of the voting share, while fans account for the remaining 10 per cent. Voting for the September awards is currently open and is scheduled to close on October 10.