It is now official that Noman Ali has been named ICC Men’s Player of the Month for October. This was after a brilliant show he pulled during the three-match Test series against England. He won before South Africa’s Kagiso Rabada and New Zealand’s Mitchell Santner. This is the first time a Pakistani player has won the monthly award since Babar Azam won it in August last year.
After being jolted early in the series, Noman was grateful to their teammates for their contribution. “I am so glad to be named the ICC Men’s Player of the Month and indebted to all my teammates, who gave their all and allowed me to put my best performances forward, which resulted in Pakistan winning a historic home Test series against England. There is nothing more thrilling than being part of such important victories for your country,” he said.
Nomam produced two game-changing bowling performances and finished the series with match figures of 11/147 and 9/130. This thus paved the way for Pakistan to break their three-year-long wait to win a Test series at home. In the second Test, when Pakistan came up with a stiff task for England-297 runs, Noman returned with the best Test figures of 8/46 and helped his team win their first home Test since 2021.
His contribution was not needed there, but it was carried on to the last Test played at Rawalpindi: batting at No. 9, with a scorecard reading 177/7, he provided just what was needed-45 runs to give Pakistan a very important 77-run lead on the first innings scoreboard. The match ended with Pakistan winning nine wickets while Noman kept adding feathers to his hat by taking six wickets and bowling England out for only 112 runs.
