ICC Awards 2024: Men’s Emerging Cricketer of the Year announced
- By Web Desk -
- Jan 26, 2025
The International Cricket Council has announced Sri Lanka’s young batter Kamindu Mendis as the Men’s Emerging Cricketer of the Year in the ICC Awards 2024.
The Sri Lanka star was up against Pakistan’s Saim Ayub, Shamar Joseph of West Indies and England’s Gus Atkinson for the top honour at the ICC Awards 2024.
Widely known for his consistency in Sri Lanka’s batting order, the left-handed batter scored 1,451 runs across formats at an average of above 50.
Kamindu Mendis was in red-hot form throughout 2024 and equalled Sir Don Bradman’s 13-innings mark to become the joint-third quickest to score 1,000 runs in Tests.
The 21-year-old amassed 1,049 runs from nine Tests, averaging 74.92, the highest among the six batters to have scored over 1,000 Test runs in 2024.
The young Sri Lanka batter also smashed five tons and three fifties in his tally of runs and helped Sri Lanka come out of trouble on many occasions, which led to him being named Men’s Emerging Cricketer of the Year in the ICC Awards 2024.
The left-handed batter played a pivotal role in Sri Lanka’s victories in their Test series against New Zealand, Bangladesh and England.
In England, Kamindu Mendis remained his side’s leading run-getter in a three-Test series.
His most impressive outing came in the second Test against New Zealand in Galle, where Mendis forged his career-best score in the longest format of the game.
An unbeaten 182 in the first innings helped Sri Lanka post a total of 602/5, and laid the foundation for a 2-0 series sweep for Sri Lanka.