Cricket is known for its rich traditions and passionate fans, has a unique way of honoring its standout performers. The Man of the Match or Player of the Match award is given to player who makes the most significant impact on a game.
But, beyond the conventional trophies and monetary rewards, which in the IPL T20 amount to Rs 1,00,000 per match, cricket has seen an array of unusual and downright bizarre prizes.
These range from everyday appliances to livestock, and even land plots.
As in the Dhaka Premier League, English all-rounder Luke Wright was awarded a blender for his stellar performance, another player receive a rice cooker for a match-winning knock.
In a cricket tournament in Palghar, Maharashtra, the winning team was awarded a goat and the runners-up receive five roosters.
Five Unique Post-Match Awards
Electric Blender
Luke Wright was Man of the Match for his outstanding performance on the pitch.
But, the award turn out to be a blender, which was quite awkward.
After all, an award is an honour, and he accept it with grace.
Luke Wright posted a picture on Twitter of himself receiving the blender from one of the sponsors.
Luke Wright Tweets :
"I'm happy to say that we won my first match for Abhanai today." "I've never been given a blender for MoM before,".
Rice Cooker
Eoin Morgan is regarded as a valuable limited-overs batsman due to his ability to hit massive sixes under pressure.
In 2013, he hit a match-winning knock while playing in the Dhaka Premier League.
Morgan was Player of the Match for his efforts.
But, the winner award was a rice cooker.
Morgan thought the cooker was a metaphor for his great ‘under pressure’ knock.
So, it was discover that the rice cooker brand was one of the sponsors.
Sunshine Snacks
Sunshine snacks are one of the many major sponsors of the Caribbean Premier League.
Customers of the snack brands are serve nuts and chips, and they have chosen the same route for Man of the Matches.
The sponsor gave a snack hamper to the players who won player of the match awards, which was hilarious because, given the fitness level require for the game these days, they couldn’t eat oily snacks.
Pictures of players receiving snack hampers went viral on social media.
Land
Sherfane Rutherford was recently given a half-acre plot of land in the United States after being named Player of the Tournament in the Global T20 Canada 2023.
The Montreal Tigers won the league by defeating the Surrey Jaguars by five wickets in the final, and Sherfane Rutherford was both Player of the Match and Player of the Tournament.
The 24-year-old finish the T20 tournament as the second-highest run scorer, with 220 runs from eight innings at an average of 44 and one half-century to his name.
The West Indian batter was in for a surprise when he was awarded half an acre of land as the prize for being named Player of the Tournament.
Biscuit Trophy
After sweeping Australia 3-0 in the UAE in 2018, Pakistan became the honorary winner of arguably the worst-design trophies in cricket.
The series was sponsor by TUC, a Belgian biscuit or cracker.
Giving teams a ‘biscuit‘ trophy was probably a little too imaginative.
