Does Haris Rauf deserve to win ICC Player of the Month?

WEB DESK: The International Cricket Council (ICC) announced the three contenders for Player of the Month for November on Thursday, pitting three of the world’s best against each other. Haris Rauf, Jasprit Bumrah, and Marco Jansen are the three contenders, but who truly deserves the award?

Across the nine matches Haris Rauf played in November, he took an incredible 18 wickets. In that span, he played six ODI matches, three each against Australia and Zimbabwe. In the series against Australia, Rauf was the top wicket taker, dismissing ten batsmen. While the Pakistani fast bowler took three wickets to in the first contest of the three-match series, tied for most dismissals with Australia’s Mitchell Starc, it was in the second game that he truly shined. He dismissed five batsmen, as he singlehandedly dismantled Australia’s line-up. Rauf took two more wickets in the final match against the Aussie’s, helping Pakistan to put the finishing touches on an incredible series victory.

Rauf was a little less impressive against Zimbabwe. He only took three wickets during the series, including one in the first match when he dismissed Zimbabwe skipper Craig Ervine, and two in the third match when he sent of Sean Williams and then ended the match and the series by dismissing Clive Madande.

Rauf also competed in three T20Is against Australia, across which he took five wickets. He only took one in the first match, dismissing Aussie opener Matthew Short. However, he was much more impactful in the second, dismissing four batsmen. Not only was it an incredible spell, but it was a record setting one, as his last dismissal, which sent off Xavier Bartlett, tied him for the most wickets taken in T20Is by a Pakistani bowler. Rauf would go on to surpass that record in the T20I series against Zimbabwe, but that happened in December.

Not only did Rauf take the most wickets out of all three contenders during the month of November, with Jasprit Bumrah taking eight and Marco Jansen taking 14, he also set records while doing it.

However, that doesn’t paint the full picture.

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JASPRIT BUMRAH  

Bumrah only played one match in November, but it was a thrilling test match against Australia. After India struggled in their first innings, only managing to score 150 runs, Bumrah took control fo the match. He took five wickets, including both openers, Nathan McSweeney and Usman Khawaja. Steven Smith came into replace Usman, and Bumrah sent him right back as he was dismissed for a duck on the first ball he faced. Later in the innings he would dismiss Australia skipper Pat Cummins and Alex Carey.

India would take the momentum that Bumrah built and capitalise, scoring 487 runs in their second innings before declaring. Bumrah would then take three more wickets in the second innings, including Nathan McSweeney, who was sent off for a duck in the very first over. That set the tone, and Bumrah dismissed Marnus Labuschagne not long after in the fifth voer. But the most important wicket came in the 39th over, as Bumrah dismissed Travis Head, who was only 11 runs off a century, and was the highest run scorer for the Aussies.

So even though Bumrah only played on match in November, it may have been the most dominant performance out of all three bowlers.

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MARCO JANSEN

Jansen was no slouch either in November, dismissing 14 batsmen in only five matches. Although, 11 of those wickets came in a single match against Sri Lanka. Before that contest, the South African competed in the T20I series against India. But, he had a less than stellar performance. He took one wicket ine ach of the first three games, and none in the fourth. However, he did score a half century in the third T20I, the most out of any South African batter. But, South Africa lost that match.

Two of his three wicekts in the series came against Sanju Samson, dismissing the Indian opener for a duck both times in the very first over. His only other wicket was the dismissal of Axar Patel in the first T20I.

Jansen’s best performance of November by far came in the first test against Sri Lanka. He took an incredible seven wickets in Sri Lanka’s first innings, beginning his tear with the dismissal of Pathum Nissanka in the fourth over. Two overs later he would dismiss Dinesh Chandimal for a duck, and two overs after that Jansen would dismiss Angelo Mathews. In the 12th over, he would dismiss both the Sri Lankan skipper Dhananjaya de Silva and Prabath Jayasuriya. In the 14th over, he would take two more, sending off Vishwa Fernando and ending Sri Lanka’s innings by dismissing Asitha Fernando. Jansen’s dominance held Sri Lanka to a measly 42 runs in their first innings.

After South Africa scored 366 in their second innings and declared, putting up a combined total of 557, Jansen would take four more wickets in Sri Lanka’s second innings to help seal the match. After sending off Mathews, Kamindu Mendis, and BKG Mendis, the South African all-rounder would end the match by bowling Asitha Fernando.

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WHO DESERVES TO WIN?

All three bowlers performed incredibly. Bumrah led an incredible comeback for India against Australia by dismantling the Aussie’s lineup. Jansen did the same, to an even more severe degree as he dismissed 11 of Sri Lanka’s best.

However, Rauf showcased sustained dominance across multiple matches in both ODIs and T20Is, taking 13 wickets in the former, and five wickets in the latter. He ended November tied for most wickets in T20Is by a Pakistani bowler, a record he has since broken. All three players had a fantastic November, but Rauf deserves the nod.