Indian Cricket Team captain Shubman Gill has been named the ICC Player of the Month for a record fifth time, having been given the award for his excellent performances in September 2026.
The month of September 2026 did not see a lot of international cricket. The biggest international bilateral this month saw England take on Ireland, Bangladesh face Australia, and Pakistan be fed to the wolves in England.
As for India, they were hosted at their own home by Afghanistan in three T20Is, winning all of them. September also saw the start of the West Indies’ tour to India. First came a three-game ODI series, followed by five T20Is.
Shubman Gill Wins Record 5th Player Of The Month
The first two ODIs of the three were played on September 27th and 30th. So, of the six games the Men in Blue played this month, three were T20Is against Afghanistan; none of them. Apart from the third, which saw a century by Abhishek Sharma, none produced any memorable performances.
The one-off T20 against Japan ended in a 5-over-a-side match. The semi-final and the final of the Asian Games 2026 men’s cricket competition were played in the first week of October and were nothing to write home about either.
This leaves us at the first two ODIs against the West Indies. In the first match, India chased down 300 runs in less than 42 overs. And while Virat Kohli scored a memorable ton and Kuldeep Yadav was named the Player of the Match for his excellent bowling, skipper Shubman Gill scored an anchoring hundred, making 110 off 108.
Then came the second ODI, where the home team won the toss, decided to bat first on a fine track, and conceded 405 runs. In response, Shubman scored the second double-century of his ODI career, making 233 runs.
With 343 runs in two ODIs, Gill was named the ICC Player of the Month for September 2026. This is the Indian captain’s fifth time being given this award, the most ever in men’s cricket and joint-most if we include women’s cricket as well.
The ICC Player of the Month award started in January 2021. Since then, Shubman Gill has been the only player to have won it five times. He has won the award in January and September of 2023, February and July of 2025, and now September of 2026. The second most wins are by Pakistan’s Babar Azam, who has been named Player of the Month on three separate occasions.
Other players nominated to win the men’s award for Player of the Month that were nominated were India’s Abhishek Sharma and Zimbabwe captain Sikandar Raza. Abhishek played four T20Is in the month, in which he scored an 82, a 39, a century of 108 runs, and a duck in a five-over match against Japan.
Meanwhile, Raza, as part of the Zimbabwe squad, played three matches in a tri-series against South Africa and Namibia and three ODIs against Australia. In the three T20s, Raza scored 90 runs and took two wickets. Then, in the three matches versus the Aussies, the Zimbabwean captain scored two half-centuries and took three wickets.
The Women’s Cricketer of the Month for September 2026 also went to an Indian, with the award going to Shafali Verma. The Indian Women’s Cricket Team played in the Women’s Asia Cup 2026 this month. While the competition started in August, India played all but one of their matches in September.
In the four games Shafali played in the Asia Cup in September, she scored half-centuries in the semi-final and the final, winning the Player of the Match awards in both games and being crowned the Player of the Tournament.
This was followed by three matches in the Asian Games 2026 women’s cricket competition, played in the same month. Verma scored an unbeaten 40, an unbeaten century, and then 40 runs in the final. Over 300 runs in six T20Is in a single month were enough for Shafali Verma to be named the Player of the Month.
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