Former India player turned commentator Aakash Chopra has questioned the relevance of the ICC awards, saying that no one remembers the winners. He also claimed that he couldn’t recall the ICC Cricketer of the Year award winners over the last five years as well.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel ‘Aakash Chopra,’ he said, “Jasprit Bumrah is the cricketer of the year. This is the Sir Garfield Sobers Award, which is phenomenal. Bowlers don’t get it generally. Ravichandran Ashwin got it, but he had scored runs as well and it is slightly difficult for a pure bowler to get it. However, he (Bumrah) has done an incredible job. He won the T20 World Cup and took 71 wickets in Test cricket. Arshdeep Singh (ICC T20I Cricketer of the Year 2024) is also there. However, a question came to my mind. Without googling, can you tell me who was the Player of the Year in the last 5 years? You won’t remember. Even I don’t remember.”
ALSO READ: “Aap Lucknow ke naye nawab hain” – Aakash Chopra on Rishabh Pant’s appointment as LSG captain
While saying that four Indians were deservedly included in the ICC T20I Team of the Year 2024, Aakash Chopra also questioned why no South African player was picked there as well.

“They have also announced the teams of the year. Four Indians (Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah and Arshdeep Singh) are there in the T20I team of the year, and they all make sense. Interestingly, there is no South African in that. They lost to us in the final but the ICC couldn’t put even one South African on this team. When I see the Test team of the year, you see Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja, which is good, but there is no South African here also. They played the T20 World Cup final and are in the WTC final. The ODI team is at a different level. It seems like an Asia XI has been made. If you leave one guy (Sherfane Rutherford), all the others are Asians,” Aakash Chopra concluded.