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Sarfaraz Khan and Asha Sobhana are reportedly in line to win the BCCI’s Best International Debut Award for 2023-24. Ravichandran Ashwin will also get a special award.
Sarfaraz Khan celebrating his maiden Test century against New Zealand in Bengaluru. (Image: Sportzpics)
Mumbai middle-order batter Sarfaraz Khan is reportedly all set to win the 2025 Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI)’s Best International Debut Award for 2023-24 in the men’s category. Leg-spinner Asha Sobhana has been chosen for the same award in the women’s category.
News agency PTI revealed the names in a report ahead of the board’s official ceremony which is slated for February 1. Sarfaraz made his Test debut against England in Rajkot and scored a quickfire 66-ball 62 with nine fours and a maximum while batting at number six in the first innings.
He backed that with a 72-ball 68 in the next innings to help India declare with a mammoth score on board and eventually seal the win by 434 runs. He was chosen as an injury replacement in the team and ended the year with six Tests to his name, scoring 371 runs at an average of 37.10.
He scored his best Test score, a brilliant 150 against New Zealand, but was dropped from India’s squad for the following series, the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy away in Australia.
Meanwhile, Sobhana picked up brilliant figures 4/21 against South Africa to help India win by 143 runs in their first ODI at Bengaluru in June 2024. She played another ODI and six T20Is in the rest of the year, averaging 18.50 in the longer format and 16.33 in the shorter one, with 13 wickets across both.
Meanwhile, recently retired spinner Ravichandran Ashwin will also be bestowed with a special award in the ceremony. Ashwin called off his international cricket in December 2024 in Brisbane as India’s second-highest wicket-taker in Tests with 537 dismissals and overall eighth-best.
Among other awardees are likely to be all-rounder Tanush Kotian who shone brightly in 2024 with all-round performances for Mumbai. He scored 502 runs in 10 matches at 41.83 with one century and five fifties and also grabbed 29 wickets in the state team’s 2024 Ranji Trophy triumph. Kotian also won the Duleep Trophy and the Irani Cup in the year.
Among women’s stars, vice-captain Smriti Mandhana will be honored with a medal for being the highest run-getter in ODIs after she finished as the highest run-scorer in 2024 with 747 runs at 57.46 in 13 matches with four tons and one fifty. Similarly, all-rounder Deepti Sharma will be conferred with a medal for picking the highest wickets in ODIs for India – 24 wickets in 13 matches.
