Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: India Test captain Shubman Gill is amongst the three nominees for ICC Men’s Player of the Month award for July 2025. Apart from Gill, England skipper Ben Stokes and South Africa all-rounder Wiaan Mulder have been nominated for the monthly honour. Gill capped a prolific month of run-scoring by making 567 runs at an average of 94.5 in three Tests during India’s tense 2-2 drawn series in England. His standout effort came at Edgbaston, where he struck 269 in the first innings and 161 in the second essay to power India to a record-breaking 336-run victory.
His match tally of 430 runs is second only to former England batter Graham Gooch’s 456. Gill followed it up with a gritty 103 scored in the second innings of the fourth Test at Old Trafford, which helped India to force a vital draw and that in turn set up their 2-2 series result. Batting at number four in his first series as captain, Gill combined stability with attacking flair, and stepped seamlessly into the talismanic Virat Kohli’s role. His knack for converting starts into big hundreds, often under pressure, proved decisive in India’s fightbacks during the series in England.
Stokes, meanwhile, underlined his trademark grit and all-round impact in three Tests against India in July, scoring 251 runs at an average of 50.20 while taking 12 wickets at an average of 26.33. He claimed Player-of-the-Match honours in successive games — at Lord’s, where his all-round effort sealed a thrilling 22-run win, and at Old Trafford, where he took 5-72 and hit a counter-attacking 141, as England posted an imposing 669.
On the other hand, Mulder amassed 531 runs at a whopping average of 265.5 in two Tests against Zimbabwe. He struck a composed 147 in the second innings of the first Test, before producing a career-defining unbeaten 367 in Bulawayo — the highest individual score by a batter in South Africa’s Test history.
