2023 has been an amazing year for cricket fans. The ODI World Cup 2023 was the pinnacle of the year in the cricketing calendar. The world has witnessed an exciting action in cricket, particularly in the last three months, where the ODI World Cup was being played. Apart from this, the other major cricketing tournaments took place were like the Asia Cup 2023, Ashes 2023, WTC Final 2021-23, Border Gavaskar Trophy 2023, and so on.
Many players showed their talent in these tournaments and earned a name for themselves. Some of them were already established, while others made their mark at the big stage. The year saw the domination of ODIs over Tests, as there was the all-important ODI World Cup in the format. T20Is and Tests were not played as much as they usually are. The teams still have some great performers in different formats of the game this year.
Most of the players were more invested in ODIs. Hence, the players during the year had stats in which ODIs dominated the profile over other formats. The contenders to be the Cricketer of the Year Award belong to different countries. It was surely the year of batters, as almost all of them shined in different formats and scored several runs. Here are the five contenders to win Cricketer of the Year Award.
5. Heinrich Klaasen
2023 (Source: Twitter)
Heinrich Klaasen had a stellar year as a middle order batter in ODIs. This year has been pathbreaking for him in ODIs. In the calendar year, Klaasen has scored 900 runs in 20 innings at a batting average of 50.00, at a stunning strike rate of 143.31, including 3 hundreds and 2 fifties. Klaasen also has 17 catches to his name as a fielder. In T20Is, Klaasen does not have much success yet in the year. With just 2 games left in the year, it is unlikely to change. But his exploits in ODIs have been simply stunning.
Klaasen started the year with a bang by scoring 137 runs in 3 innings at a strike rate of 121.24. Against West Indies, Klaasen scored 119*(61). In the series against Australia, Klaasen scored 243 runs in 5 innings at a strike rate of 158.82. In the ODI World Cup 2023, Klaasen scored 373 runs in 10 innings at a batting average of 41.44, at an incredible batting strike rate of 133.21, including a hundred and a fifty. With 2 T20Is and 3 ODIs yet to go in the year, Klaasen has been phenomenal as a batter in the calendar year.
