India’s Shubman Gill and Shafali Verma were on Tuesday named ICC Men’s and Women’s Players of the Month for September 2026. Gill beat fellow nominees Abhishek Sharma and Zimbabwe’s Sikandar Raza for the men’s award. He made a score of 211 against New Zealand to win. In January 2023, September 2023, February 2025 and July 2025, he won the award, becoming the only male player to take the title five times.
Shubman Gill Wins ICC Men’s Player of the Month
Gill’s month was exclusively impressive, with 208 and 77 at the toss of ODIs against West Indies. In Thiruvananthapuram, he scored 110 in 108 balls, while India chased 296 with more than eight overs to spare. Just three days later in Guwahati, he clobbered an unbeaten 223 off 133 balls, smashing 26 fours and eight sixes as India chased down 406. It is the second-highest successful chase in India’s ODI history.
The innings led to some new records.
The fastest hundred by an Indian captain in ODIs came in just 62 balls. He became the fastest player to score a double century off 117 balls. The highest ODI chase successfully completed was 223 runs. Rohit and Ishan’s 255-run stand has been India’s highest opening partnership.
Shafali Verma Wins ICC Women’s Player of the Month
Shafali’s all-round month saw her named the ICC Women’s Player of the Month for September 2026. The 22-year-old scored 360 runs in seven T20Is at an average of 72 and a strike rate of 184.61. She also took six wickets at an average of 13 and an economy rate of 4.33.
Her best form came in India’s Asia Cup win in the UAE and their gold-medal run at the Asian Games in Nagoya. She was the Asia Cup’s top scorer with 236 runs in five innings, including 64 in the semi-final against Bangladesh and 68 in the final against Sri Lanka. At the Asian Games, she made 188 runs in three innings, including her first T20I century, 100 off 49 balls against Bangladesh in the semi-final. In the gold-medal match against Sri Lanka, she made 48 and took two wickets as India won by 147 runs.
“It is an incredible honour to win the ICC Player of the Month award again,” Shafali said. “It was immensely satisfying to play my part in our victories at the Asia Cup and the Asian Games, and winning this award makes those triumphs even more special.”
