Shubman Gill bags record-extending fifth 'ICC Player of the Month' award, beats Abhishek and Sikandar Raza

Dubai [UAE], October 13 Indian skipper Shubman Gill achieved his record-extending fifth 'ICC Player of the Month' award for September 2026, the International Cricket Council (ICC) announced on Tuesday. 

Gill, as per the ICC, won the award ahead of fellow nominees Abhishek Sharma of India and Zimbabwe's Sikandar Raza.

Gill scored 333 runs in India's first two ODIs against West Indies, with a century in the opener and an unbeaten double century in the second. India won both matches by eight wickets.

In the first ODI, in Thiruvananthapuram on 27 September, Gill made 110 off 108 balls as India chased down West Indies' 295/7. India reached the target of 296 in 41.4 overs.

Three days later in Guwahati, West Indies made 405/7, their first ODI total above 400. Gill, captaining India, responded with an unbeaten 223 off 133 balls, including 26 fours and eight sixes, and India finished on 406/2 in 43.3 overs with 39 balls to spare. He reached his hundred in 62 balls, the fastest by an Indian captain in ODIs, and his double century in 117 balls, the fastest in ODI history. 

It remains the highest individual score in a successful ODI chase. Gill and Rohit Sharma (101 off 75 balls) put on 255 for the opening wicket, India's highest partnership on home soil. The chase was the second-highest successful one in ODI history, behind only South Africa's 438/9 against Australia in Johannesburg in 2006.