2025 World Cup: India's Suraj Reddy named Men's Player of the Tournament

Summary

His team may have bowed out in the Minor Semi-Final of the competition, but Indian Men’s player Suraj Reddy was recognised for his overall performance by being named the Player of the Tournament. Reddy beat out Australia’s Brock Winkler and New Zealand’s Stacy Hyndman for the award, when it was announced at the World Cup Closing Ceremony this past Saturday in Colombo.

He becomes the first Indian player to win the award in the tournament’s history, and follows on from his teammate Vijay H, who earned a World VIII selection in 2022.

The Player of the Tournament (or Most Valuable Player, MVP) voting system is based on a 3-2-1 point system allocated to players each match, as decided by the umpire for that game. It is not determined by the highest contribution average per game overall.

The 30-year-old, capped over 50 times now for the national side, played 10 matches during the tournament, and took over the captaincy when regular captain Daivik Rai and vice-captain Dhanush Bhaskar were sitting out. Holding a tall frame, he was a menace with the ball, his leg-spin netting him 22 wickets for 20 runs at an average of 2.20 wickets per match, and an economy of 1.10 per over. His wickets haul placed him third on the overall charts behind Australia’s Justin Perkins (25) and ew Zealand’s Dion Joll (23). He took three wickets in a match three times, with a best of 4/-13.

With the bat, he scored 58 runs at an average of 5.80 and a strike rate of 48.

Additionally, as the side’s first-choice wicket-keeper, he was involved in 16 run outs and took one catch, taking on greater context with the change from third ball to second ball for the tournament.

Reddy spoke to Indoor Cricket News, and reflected on his selection as well as his team’s performance at the tournament.

“It’s a really proud moment for me. I’m extremely happy to receive such a prestigious award, and even more happy to be the first Indian player. I really hope this can inspire the younger generation, as well as pushing me to raise my game to the next level in future tournaments” said Reddy.

“Our team performance was brilliant in the early stages of the tournament, but disappointing results against Australia and New Zealand dashed our hopes of making the top two.”

“We feel this was the best Indian side to ever play in a World Cup and we felt confident about reaching the finals, but sadly we could not compete the way we wanted to about Sri Lanka, and to be knocked out at the Minor Semi-Final stage was very disappointing. However, we will work harder as a team and come back to stronger to improve our performances in future tournaments” said Reddy.

Amongst the other individual awards, Australia’s Samantha Dixon was named the Women’s Player of the Tournament, winning the award ahead of Pranidhi Pabasara of the UAE, and sister Meagan Dixon.

Despite not making the final, South Africa’s Carl Goosen was rewarded with the MVP award for the Under-22 Men, ahead of Leo Ward from England. And for the Under-22 Women, Cynthia Coghlan from Australia got the top award, from teammates Elise Hart, who was player of the final, and Rituja Talekar.

2025 World Cup Players of the Tournament: Top Five

Open Men

Open Women

Under-22 Men

Under-22 Women

Image: U-Pro Indoor Cricket