Copyright sportskeeda
Team India opening batter Smriti Mandhana is one of three players nominated for October's ICC Player of the Month following her record-breaking exploits during the successful 2025 Women's ODI World Cup campaign. The left-handed batter scored 434 runs in the tournament, the highest tally by an Indian batter after overtaking Mithali Raj's 417-run effort from the 2017 edition. The majority of Smriti Mandhana's World Cup heroics came during the month of October, after a relatively slow start. She bounced back in resounding fashion, scoring three fifty-plus scores in a row, one of which was a hundred against New Zealand during the do-or-die league stage encounter. The opener also chipped in with a crucial 42 in the final against South Africa, which played a part in the dominant 104-run partnership for the opening wicket with Shafali Verma. Apart from Mandhana, South Africa captain Laura Wolvaardt, and Australia all-rounder Ashleigh Gardner have also been nominated for the award. The newly crowned No.1 ODI batter, Laura Wolvaardt, had a stellar 2025 ODI Women's World Cup campaign. She finished as the leading run-scorer of the tournament by a mile, scoring 571 runs in nine innings at an average of 71.37. The highlight of her campaign came during the business end as she slammed consecutive hundreds in the semi-final and the final against England and India, respectively. Ashleigh Gardner had a stunning batting average of 82 after slamming 328 runs in just five innings at an exceptional strike rate of 130.18. She recorded two hundreds, the first one coming against New Zealand in Australia's first match of the campaign, and the second coming against arch-rivals England. The all-rounder had an eventful campaign with the ball as well, picking up seven wickets at an average of 37.85 and an economy rate of 5.30. Three spinners nominated for October's ICC Player of the Month As far as men's cricket is concerned, three spinners in the form of South Africa's Senuran Muthusamy, Afghanistan's Rashid Khan, and Pakistan's Noman Ali, are up for the prize for the month of October. Senuran Muthusamy and Noman Ali picked up the bulk of the wickets during the recently drawn Test series between South Africa and Pakistan. The former was adjudged as player of the series for his 11 wickets and match-saving fifty with the bat in the second innings. Noman Ali, on the other hand, finished as the leading wicket taker of the series with 14 scalps at an average of 23.07, including a ten-wicket haul in the first Test. He was named player of the match in Pakistan's 93-run win in Lahore. Rashid Khan had a prolific month, bagging 20 wickets across eight white-ball international contests last month. He picked up a five-wicket haul as well during the second ODI against Bangladesh in Abu Dhabi to help his side defend a 191-run target. It marked the sixth fifer of his ODI career.
