International Cricket Council (ICC) has named Babar Azam as the ODI Player of the Year after another prolific season for the Pakistan Captain with the bat.
The 28-year-old has won the award for the second year running.
Babar was at his absolute best in the 50-over game with the bat ending the year with 679 runs from nine matches at an average of 84.87 with three centuries to go a further five half-centuries, only failing to notch a significant score in one game.
His performances also helped him stay atop the Batter’s ranking since ascending to the throne in July 2021.
He also enjoyed his best run as the captain of the ODI team in 2022 leading Pakistan to 8 wins in 9 contests with their solitary loss coming against Australia in Lahore.
Babar responded by making a 73-ball hundred – his fastest ever in ODI cricket- the following game to lead Pakistan to a memorable win that drew the home side level at 1-1 against the visiting Aussies.
Along with being named the ICC “ODI Player of the Year”, Babar Azam was also recently named captain of ICC’s “ODI Team of the Year” for his near-perfect record.
In other announcements, ICC named Richard Illingworth “Umpire of the Year”, Tahlia McGrath the ICC “Women’s T20I Cricketer of the Year”, South Africa’s Marco Jansen the “Men’s Emerging Cricketer of the Year”, Suryakumar Yadav Men’s “T20I Cricketer of the Year” and India’s Renuka Singh the ICC “Emerging Women’s Cricketer of the Year”.
