LAHORE: Pakistan national squad captain Babar Azam has been nominated for the ICC Men’s ODI ‘Player of the Year’ award, the International Cricket Council (ICC) announced Thursday.
Alongside Azam, Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan, Ireland’s Paul Stirling and South Africa’s Janneman Malan have been named as contenders for the award, according to a statement issued by the cricket governing body.
Describing Azam as the “top-ranked batter”, the ICC said the Pakistan skipper played only six ODIs in 2021, “but he made vital contributions” in both the series his team played this year”. ICC also posted a video recap of Azam’s feats in 2021 and titled it “Babar Azam: pride of Pakistan”
He was the second-highest run-scorer with 228 runs and was the Player of the Match in both of Pakistan’s wins in the 2-1 series victory against South Africa. He was the architect of Pakistan’s chase of 274 in the first ODI with a century and laid the foundation with an 82-ball 94 in the final ODI where the visitors posted 320 batting first.
He was the lone warrior for Pakistan when they were swept by England 3-0. He accumulated 177 runs in three games but found no support none of the other batters managed to score more than 100 in the series.
Azam’s memorable performance
Azam’s best performance this year came in a losing cause in the final ODI against England. With the series already lost, Pakistan were playing for pride as well as crucial ICC Cricket World Cup Super League points in the third ODI at Birmingham.
Put in to bat first, Pakistan posted 331, with Babar scoring close to 50 per cent of the team’s runs. Walking in to bat early in the innings, Babar strung a 92-run stand with Imam-ul-Haq to bail Pakistan out of trouble.
He was cautious in his approach initially, bringing up his half-century in 72 balls. He made up for it by bringing up the next fifty runs in just 32 balls – it was his second ODI century of the year.
With the milestone out of the way, he exploded in the death overs and almost batted through the innings, getting out in the last over for 158, his highest-ever ODI score.
Unfortunately for Pakistan, James Vince and Lewis Gregory stole the show with a stunning 129-run stand for the sixth wicket as England chased the total down with two overs to spare.
Shakib Al Hasan
The Bangladeshi all-rounder scored 277 runs in nine matches at an average of 39.57 with two fifties and also bagged 17 wickets at an average of 17.52.
His memorable performance was against Zimbabwe when he came to his team’s rescue both with the bat and the ball in the second ODI at Harare.
Janneman Malan
The South Africa cricketer, shortlisted for the award, has scored 509 runs in eight matches at an average of 84.83 with two centuries and two half-centuries in the outgoing year.
Paul Stirling
The fourth player, nominated for the coveted award, is Paul Stirling of Ireland who scored 705 runs in 14 matches at an average of 79.66 with three centuries and two half-centuries. The Player of the Year will be decided through a ballot by cricket fans and the winner will be announced on January 24.
