PCB names Babar Azam ‘Most Valuable Cricketer’ at annual awards – List of all winners
The cricketing calendar saw fewer number of games in 2020, yet there were some players who managed to leave their impact in the limited number of opportunities they got. For Pakistan, the name of Babar Azam surely floats above the rest. The talented batsman, hence, was honoured with the ‘Most Valuable Cricketer of the Year’ award by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on January 01.
Babar, who scored a total of 338 runs in 4 Tests last year, scoring runs at an average of 67.6. Not just that, he mesmerized cricket lovers with sumptuous batting across formats, scoring runs at an average of 110.5 in ODIs and 55.2 in T20Is in 2020. Some may argue that he had competition from Mohammad Hafeez, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Haris Rauf for the award but with stats like his, the other three were never even in contention.
Azam’s performances have been such that he was recently appointed as the captain of the team in all three formats. While there’s no doubting that Azam is the finest of the lot in Pakistan cricket at present, there are some others too who are making the right noises.
Among the other cricketers who were honoured at the annual awards was wicket-keeper batsman Mohammad Rizwan. He won the Test Cricketer of the Year award having scored 302 runs at an average of 43.14 last year. Rizwan has also dislodged former skipper Sarfraz Ahmed behind the stumps permanently. Rizwan inflicted 12 dismissals in 5 matches for Pakistan in the format last year.
When it comes to the Individual Performance of the Year, Fawad Alam bagged the prize having scored a century against New Zealand in the second innings of the first Test that concluded recently. Naseem Shah, meanwhile, was named Men’s Emerging International Cricketer of the Year for bagging 12 wickets in 5 matches last year.
List of all winners:
- Most Valuable Cricketer of the Year – Babar Azam
- Test Cricketer of the Year – Mohammad Rizwan
- White-ball Cricketer of the Year – Babar Azam
- Individual Performance of the Year – Fawad Alam (102 v New Zealand, 1st Test)
- Women’s Cricketer of the Year – Aliya Riaz
- Domestic Cricketer of the Year – Kamran Ghulam
- Corporate Achievement of the Year – First-ever HBL PSL 2020 in Pakistan
- Men’s Emerging International Cricketer of the Year – Naseem Shah
- Men’s Emerging Cricketer of the Year – Rohail Nazir
- Women’s Emerging Cricketer of the Year – Fatima Sana
- Umpire of the Year – Asif Yaqoob. ( TN )
