Babar bags Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for ICC Men’s Cricketer of the Year 2022
NEW delhi: Ater being named the ICC Men’s ODI Cricketer of the Year 2022, Pakistan captain Babar Azam has now bagged the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for the ICC Men’s Cricketer of the Year 2022. He is now the second Pakistan cricketer to have won the coveted honour ater let-arm pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi did so in 2021.
Azam was the only player to breach the 2000-run mark during the calendar year across all formats, and he did it in style as he broke past that milestone in style while amassing a whopping 2598 runs at an imposing average of 54.12.
His haul of eight hundreds and 17 fities during the calendar year across all formats is his best of his playing career till date. Azam played only nine ODI matches in 2022, but the 28-year-old made them count as he smashed three centuries, a further five half-centuries and only really failed with the bat on one occasion.
He has been at the top of the men’s ODI player rankings since July 2021, scored 679 runs at a stunning average of 84.87 in the nine matches he played in 2022, registering eight scores of more than fity, three of which he converted into hundreds.
As a captain, Azam had a memorable year as captain of the Pakistan ODI team, winning three out of three series. Pakistan were unstoppable in the ODI format, losing just one match (against Australia) out of nine.
His best effort in ODIS this year was 114 against Australia in Lahore. Set a daunting target of 349 by Australia, Azam put on a masterclass in chasing a total. Walking out to bat when his team needed 231 from 187 balls, Babar almost took his side home with an exceptional display of shot-making.
Azam brought up his hundred off just 73 balls, his fastest ever in ODI cricket and stuck around till the 44th over. The rest of the batters finished the job as they recorded their highest-ever successful chase in ODIS, with Azam deservedly named Player of the Match.
He also enjoyed a tremendous year in Test cricket, despite team results not always going his way. Azam accumulated 1184 runs from just nine matches and did the bulk of the heavy liting for Pakistan in the longest format of the game.
In the T20IS, he led Pakistan to the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup final - their first since 2009 as they finished runners-up behind eventual champions England in Australia. Under his leadership, Pakistan also finished runners-up in the Asia Cup in the UAE, behind eventual winners Sri Lanka.
He got his second straight ODI men’s award - the first to receive consecutive awards since Virat Kohli in 2017-18 - for leading Pakistan to wins in all three of its ODI series, and scoring 50 or more in eight of the nine matches.
“The most satisfying and accomplishing aspect for me was to compete and perform in front of my home fans against Australia, England and New Zealand’s touring sides,” Babar said in an ICC statement. “Of course, reaching the finals of two major tournaments in the United Arab Emirates and Australia were also some of the highlights for me and my team, and we hope to do beter this year.”
Stokes has been leading England’s revolution in the Test arena with a fearless atitude. England won nine of its 10 Tests ater winning only one of its previous 17. New Zealand and Pakistan were whitewashed.
“We have played some incredible cricket with series wins against New Zealand, South Africa, a significant performance against India and a historic victory in Pakistan,” Stokes said.
“We are enjoying our cricket and love having fun wherever we play. The way in which we approach test cricket is to excite the fans and making it a spectacle for everyone to get behind and enjoy regardless of the result for England.”
Sciver became the first English women’s winner of the ODI award since Sarah Taylor in 2014.