The International Cricket Council (ICC) has unveiled the nominees for the Men's Player of the Month award for October 2025. To everyone's surprise, no a single Indian could make a cut in the list. Even, India's batting maestro Rohit Sharma wasn't considered for the coveted honour despite his outstanding performance in the recently-concluded ODI series against Australia.
The Men's Player of the Month award will be contested exclusively by three world-class spinners who delivered outstanding performances throughout October. The nominees are Senuran Muthusamy (South Africa), Noman Ali (Pakistan), and Rashid Khan (Afghanistan).
In the women’s category, the shortlist features three prominent batting stars who excelled during the recent ICC Women’s World Cup 2025. The top honour for the ICC Women's Player of the Month will be a close fight between South Africa's Laura Wolvaardt, India's Smriti Mandhana, and Australia's all-rounder Ash Gardner.
South Africa's Senuran Muthusamy
South African all-rounder Senuran Muthusamy earned his ICC Player of the Month nomination for a spectacular all-round display during the World Test Championship (WTC) series against Pakistan. The 31-year-old left-arm spinner delivered a career-best performance in the first Test at Lahore, achieving match figures of 11 wickets for 174 runs, with a six-wicket haul in the first innings and a five-wicket haul in the second. In the second Test at Rawalpindi, Muthusamy showcased his batting prowess by scoring a vital unbeaten 89, which was instrumental in guiding the Proteas to a hard-fought victory. Across the two-match series, he finished with a tally of 106 runs at an average of 53 and claimed 11 wickets at an outstanding average of 18.36, crowning him the well-deserved Player of the Series.
Pakistan's Noman Ali
Pakistan's left-arm spinner Noman Ali shone bright in the series against South Africa. Ali finished as the highest wicket-taker of the series, securing an impressive haul of 14 wickets at a remarkable average of just 23.07. His most devastating spell came in the first Test in Lahore, where his stunning figures of 6/112 and 4/79 played a decisive role in handing Pakistan a memorable 93-run victory.
Afghanistan's Rashid Khan
The third nominee for the ICC Men’s Player of the Month is Afghanistan's spin sensation, Rashid Khan, who was in unstoppable form across two different white-ball series. Demonstrating his mastery in the T20I format, Rashid was highly economical, scalping nine wickets across five matches against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe at a miserly economy rate of just 4.82. He proved equally lethal in the ODI series against Bangladesh, where his bowling brilliance was key to Afghanistan's 3-0 series sweep, as he claimed a total of 11 wickets while maintaining an astonishingly tight economy of only 2.73.