South Africa opener Janneman Malan and Pakistan pacer Fatima Sana were on Sunday adjudged as the ICC emerging players of the year for 2021 in men's and women's respectively.
Malan, named in ICC's ODI eleven of the year, had a stunning run in 2021 with the bat, making 715 runs in 17 international matches at 47.66 Average and 101.85 strike-rate, including two centuries and three fifties. He played a total of eight ODIs and nine T20Is in the year, but it was the 50-over format where he showed his real potential.
"It is a privilege to be named the ICC Men's Emerging Cricketer of the Year. I would like to thank my family, my support system, and my team for the opportunity. My favourite innings of the year came in Sri Lanka where I had to bat the full fifty overs, whilst I was cramping. It was personally a big innings for me to keep batting and fight through the pain and be in a position to help my team win the game," said Malan.
His voyage started with the T20I series in Pakistan, followed by another ODI and T20I series against the same side at home. At the end of those two series, he had already shown the world his ability with two excellent knocks of 70 and 55 in Centurion.
But his moment of fame arrived when he smashed an unbeaten 177, the fourth highest score by a South African in ODIs, against Ireland in Dublin. He followed that up with another excellent knock of 121 against Sri Lanka in Colombo and thus ended the year on a good note.
Malan's most impactful knock was an unbeaten 177 against Ireland.