Babar Azam nominated for ICC Men's ODI Player of the Year Award
Cricket
Babar Azam might have played only six ODis in 2021
DUBAI (Dunya News) – A talismanic all-rounder, two dashing openers and the top-ranked batter in the 50-over format make the list of nominees for 2021 ICC Men’s ODI Player of the Year awards.
Shakib, Azam, Malan and Stirling are the the four nominees for the ICC Men’s ODI Player of the Year award.
Babar has made 405 runs in six matches at an average of 67.50 with two centuries
The year that was
Babar Azam might have played only six ODis in 2021, but he made vital contributions in the two series that they played this year.
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.
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.
