Power-hitter Shorna nominated for MVP award
Although Bangladesh had to bow out before reaching the semi-finals of the inaugural edition of the ICC U-19 Women's T20 World Cup, they had a thoroughly impressive campaign by winning four out of five matches. Shorna Akter, in particular, caught the eyes with some powerful stroke-play and the right-handed batter deservingly made the cut as one of the five players who are in contention to bag the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award.
Shorna and three of her teammates -- Dilara Akter, captain Disha Biswas, and Marufa Akter – have already been rewarded for their World Cup performances with a call-up to the Bangladesh's squad for next month's Women's T20 World Cup.
The five MVP nominees including Shorna – India's Shweta Sehrawat, England's Grace Scrivens, Australia's Milly Illingworth, South Africa's Madison Landsman -- were shortlisted based on their performances until the end of Super Six group phase. The winner will be adjudged on the basis of fan-voting on the following link of the International Cricket Council's official website: www.icc-cricket.com/awards/most-valuable-player
Shorna -- who had registered 153 runs, at an average of 51 and a strike-rate of 157.73, including scalping a wicket as well – was brilliantly consistent across the five matches Bangladesh played, starting with a famous win over eventual semi-finalists Australia. In at number four, the 16-year-old tallied a fifty in the following match against Sri Lanka and her minimum score remained 20.
Moreover, Shorna's six-hitting abilities came to the fore. And before the final of the competition, Shorna's tally of six sixes still keeps her in the top bracket alongside two other MVP candidates -- Sehrawat and Scrivens – who will feature in Sunday's title-decider. Shorna's teammate and opener Afia Prottasha also occupies the second-highest spot for most sixes with five entries.
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