Winning the ICC ODI cricketer of the year reflects a lot about the mettle of the player and also the kind of year he has had on the individual and the team level in the one-day cricket. The Indian cricket team has emerged a force to reckon in the past few years. This has reflected on the individual level as well. Indian players have won the last 3 ODI Cricketer of the year awards – Virat Kohli in 2017 & 2018 and Rohit Sharma in 2019. While there is still a lot of time left in 2021 and there is a lot of cricket left to be played, let’s try to predict who will win ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year in 2021?
At first, let’s try to take a look at the biggest contenders to win the award –
Virat Kohli – Indian Skipper is the 3-time winner of the award already. He alongside AB de Villiers has won the award maximum number of times. Virat Kohli is one of the most consistent batsmen the world cricket has ever seen. He has been piling up the runs with his bat for India and looks in no mood to stop soon. In 2021, he could once again keep his good form going and emerge as the ODI Cricketer of the Year.
Rohit Sharma – The Hitman has been in some kind of form lately. He is the only batsman on the planet to score 3 double-centuries in the ODI cricket. There is a high percentage of the chances that he might add a few more in that tally in the next couple of years. On the back of a tremendous World Cup, Sharma emerged the best ODI player in 2019 and won the award. If he can continue his purple patch then he could win it in 2021 as well.
Ben Stokes – The fiery all-rounder from England is certainly one of the best players around. Stokes, on his day, has the ability to win the games single-handedly. The World-Cup winner is a complete player as he can bat, bowl, and field equally well. Ben Stokes is a natural match-winner who helped England in winning their first-ever ODI World Cup. Ben Stokes has on an ever-improving curve as a player since his debut. If the all-rounder can continue to perform at the same level then he can be the ODI cricketer of the year in 2021.
Quinton de Kock – The new Proteas skipper and wicketkeeper-batsman had a good 2019 with the bat. The things are already looking good in 2020 as de Kock is looking more compact batsman then ever since taking over the captaincy. If the captaincy stint could help in becoming a better batsman then we could see him emerging as the top contender to fight for the best in the ODIs in 2021.
There could be many other names like Babar Azam from Pakistan, Kane Williamson from New Zealand, Jonny Bairstow from England, David Warner, Steve Smith and Mitchell Starc from Australia, and Shakib-Al-Hasan from Bangladesh could emerge as the top players in 2021. However, as per our Today Match Prediction, Rohit Sharma is going to win the ICC ODI Cricketer of the year in 2021.