After being named the ICC Men’s Cricketer of the Year 2022, Pakistan captain Babar Azam won the “Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy” on Thursday.
This is the second year in a row that Azam has won the award for the ICC Men’s ODI Cricketer of the Year.
In 2022, Babar Azam continued to set new personal records and ensured that Pakistan’s star shone brightly.
Babar blew past that mark with a whopping 2598 runs and an intimidating 54.12 batting average. He was the only player in all formats to surpass 2000 runs during the calendar year.
The dynamic right-hander is unquestionably at the pinnacle of his career right now, as evidenced by his year-end total of eight hundred and seventeen fifties.
The ICC Men’s ODI Player of the Year for 2021 and 2022 ruled the 50-over format with 679 runs in nine games. The fact that he recorded scores of 50 or higher in eight of those innings demonstrates his consistency.
Given that he remains at the top of the ICC Men’s ODI Player Rankings, the 28-year-old’s selection as the ICC Men’s ODI Player of the Year for the second year in a row came as no surprise.
Despite the fact that his team’s Test results were not always favorable, Babar also had a great year. He scored 1184 runs in just nine matches for Pakistan in the longer format, doing most of the heavy lifting.
Babar’s year as captain was especially noteworthy in the white-ball formats because Pakistan won all three ODI series, losing only one of nine matches to Australia.
He led Pakistan to their first Men’s T20 World Cup final since 2009 when Babar’s team finished second to eventual champion England in the T20I format.
When the chips were down and Pakistan was looking at defeat, one man stood in the way of Australia defeating Pakistan in the second Test in Karachi.
Pakistan was bowled out for 148 in the first innings, giving Australia a huge lead of 408 runs. The visitors batted once more with just over six sessions remaining, setting them a target of 506 runs.
Pakistan got off to the worst possible start, losing two wickets, with only 21 runs on the board and five sessions remaining. A grueling 10-hour marathon that almost prevented Pakistan from losing began as soon as Babar Azam arrived on the scene.