Arafat Minhas Nominated for ICC Player of the Month for October 2026: How to Vote From Pakistan
Pakistan's Arafat Minhas is on the ICC Men's Player of the Month shortlist for October 2026 with Jansen and Hope. His figures and how to vote by 10 November.
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Pakistan all-rounder Arafat Minhas is one of three nominees for the ICC Men's Player of the Month award for October 2026, the International Cricket Council (ICC) announced on 5 November. The other two are Marco Jansen of South Africa and Shai Hope of West Indies. Fans can vote on the ICC website, and the ICC voting page says voting ends on "10/11/2026 at 07:30 am".
Arafat was named Player of the Series in Pakistan's home ODI tri-series win. The ICC lists his October total as 149 runs and 9 wickets in 5 matches. Below is what the ICC says he did, how he compares with the other two, how to vote from Pakistan, and what the ICC has not said.
Arafat Minhas is the only Pakistani on the October shortlist
Arafat Minhas is the only Pakistani among the six men and women the ICC nominated for October 2026. The ICC named him on 5 November for his runs and wickets in the ODI tri-series against England and Sri Lanka, which Pakistan won at home.
We read the ICC nomination article and the ICC voting page on 6 November 2026. The ICC describes him as "a standout" in the tri-series. The women's shortlist for October has no Pakistani player. It names Deepti Sharma of India, Sobhana Mostary of Bangladesh and Annabel Sutherland of Australia.
The nomination also follows Arafat's place in Pakistan's 14-player squad for the two Tests against Sri Lanka, which start in Rawalpindi on 9 November. You can see the full list in our page on the Pakistan Test squad against Sri Lanka.
Two innings and one spell earned the nomination
The ICC points to three moments. Against England he scored 59 and then took 6 for 40. In the final against Sri Lanka he hit 61 off 31 balls as Pakistan chased 326. The ICC also notes he was Player of the Series.
The ICC calls his 6 for 40 "the second-best ODI bowling figures by a Pakistan bowler on home soil". We covered that match on the day in our report on Pakistan's 87 run win over England in Rawalpindi.
The final was the bigger stage. Pakistan needed 326 to beat Sri Lanka in Lahore, and Arafat's 61 off 31 balls came in that chase. Fakhar Zaman made 127 in the same match, as set out in our report on Pakistan's three wicket win in the tri-series final.
The three nominees had very different months
Marco Jansen did it in Tests, Shai Hope with the bat in white-ball cricket, and Arafat Minhas with bat and ball in ODIs. The ICC voting page gives one line of figures for each player, shown in the table below.
| Nominee | Team | Matches | Runs | Wickets | What the ICC highlights |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arafat Minhas | Pakistan | 5 | 149 | 9 | 59 and 6 for 40 against England, 61 off 31 in the final |
| Marco Jansen | South Africa | 3 | 198 | 13 | 85 and six wickets in the second Test at Gqeberha |
| Shai Hope | West Indies | 6 | 423 | Not listed | 162 not out in a record 352 chase against India |
Jansen helped South Africa win a three-Test series against Australia 2-1, and the ICC says he rose to the top of the Test all-rounder rankings. Hope made 162 not out in the third ODI against India and then two T20I centuries, including 102 not out off 50 balls.
So Arafat has the fewest runs of the three. He is the only one of the three named Player of the Series for a trophy his team won.
How to vote for Arafat Minhas from Pakistan
Voting is free and takes about a minute on the ICC website. Open the men's Player of the Month page, choose Arafat Minhas and submit. The ICC page shows the deadline as "10/11/2026 at 07:30 am" and does not name the time zone.
- Open the ICC website, icc-cricket.com, on your phone or computer.
- Go to Awards, then Player of the Month, then the men's award page.
- Find the October 2026 nominees: Marco Jansen, Arafat Minhas and Shai Hope.
- Tap Vote under Arafat Minhas and follow the prompt on screen.
- Vote before 10 November. Do not leave it to the last hour, because the time zone is not stated.
The date is written "10/11/2026". The ICC writes dates day first, and 11 October had already passed when voting opened, so it reads as 10 November. If the deadline is in UAE time, the ICC's home, 07:30 am there is 8:30 am in Pakistan. If it is in UTC, it is 12:30 pm in Pakistan. The page does not say which, so vote by the evening of 9 November to be safe.
What the ICC has not said yet
The ICC pages we read do not say who else votes, how fan votes are weighted, or when the winner will be named. They also do not say how voting is limited, for example one vote per person or per device.
The October 2026 pages do not give a date for the result. Voting closes on 10 November, so the winner cannot be named before then. We will add the result here when the ICC publishes it.
Fan votes alone may not decide it. Treat any claim that "the most votes wins" as unconfirmed until the ICC says so.
Where Arafat Minhas goes next
Arafat now moves from ODIs to Tests. He is in the Pakistan squad for the first Test against Sri Lanka in Rawalpindi from 9 November and the second in Lahore from 17 November. Both start at 9:30 am PKT.
His October form also lifted him in the ICC ODI rankings, which we tracked in our page on Pakistan players in the ICC ODI rankings. The full tri-series record, match by match, is on our tri-series results page.
Start times for the Tests are on our page about the 9:30 am start for both Tests.
Common questions
Who are the ICC Men's Player of the Month nominees for October 2026?
Arafat Minhas of Pakistan, Marco Jansen of South Africa and Shai Hope of West Indies. The ICC announced them on 5 November 2026.
How do I vote for Arafat Minhas?
Open the men's Player of the Month page on icc-cricket.com, choose Arafat Minhas and tap Vote. It is free.
When does voting close?
The ICC page says "10/11/2026 at 07:30 am", which reads as 10 November. It does not name the time zone, so vote by 9 November.
What did Arafat Minhas do in October 2026?
The ICC lists 149 runs and 9 wickets in 5 ODIs, including 59 and 6 for 40 against England and 61 off 31 balls in the final.
Is any Pakistani woman nominated for October?
No. The women's nominees are Deepti Sharma, Sobhana Mostary and Annabel Sutherland.
When will the winner be announced?
The ICC has not given a date. We will add the result to this page when it is published.
How we verified this
What we checked, where we read it, and what we could not confirm.
We read the ICC nominations article of 5 November 2026, the ICC men's Player of the Month voting page and the ICC women's nominations article on 6 November 2026, about 15:00 PKT. The time zone conversions are our own sums.
About the author
Senior Writer, Public Services and Technology
Shahid joined us in 2024 as an author. He is a senior contributor to Pakistan's leading technology websites. He writes detailed articles, mostly covering his expertise in the latest tech, mobiles, apps, gadgets, and step-by-step guides. His ideology is to help people understand the latest trends and explain complex methods through very easy-to-understand guides.
