ICC name Babar Azam as Men’s Cricketer of the Year and Men’s ODI Player of the Year for 2022

The Pakistan captain was the only batter to breach the 2000 run mark in 2022.

Babar Azam plays a shot against New Zealand in the tri series in October 2022. (Photo: Pakistan Cricket/Twitter)

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Pakistan skipper Babar Azam was Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy i.e. the ICC Men’s Player of the Year title for the calendar year of 2022. Babar is only the second Pakistan cricketer to win the prestigious award after Shaheen Shah Afridi, who won it in 2021. The 28-year-old was also named as the Men’s ODI Player of the Year.

Across formats, Babar scored 2598 runs in 44 matches at an average of 54.12, which included eight centuries and 15 half-centuries. Apart from this, Pakistan also reached the 2022 T20 World Cup final under his captainship. This, despite of losing their opening two matches in the competition to India and Zimbabwe.

Double delight for Babar Azam 🤩

After being named the ICC Men’s ODI Cricketer of the Year, the Pakistan star bags the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for the ICC Men’s Cricketer of the Year 👏#ICCAwards

— ICC (@ICC) January 26, 2023

Babar was the only player to breach the 2000 run mark in the year gone by. The Men’s ODI Player of the Year for the past two years continued his form in the 50-over format, scoring 679 runs in nine matches.

In Tests, despite Pakistan winning only one of their nine matches, the captain accumulated 1184 runs from the same. A memorable moment of him in the whites arrived in the second Test against Australia in Karachi.

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With Pakistan requiring 506 runs to win in close to six sessions that remained, Babar notched up 196 runs off 425 deliveries and walked off to a standing ovation, having scored the highest by a Test captain in the fourth innings of a Test.

Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy 2022

England’s Nat Sciver won the 2022 Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy, which is awarded to the ICC Women’s Player of the Year.

Natalie Sciver of England bats during the 2022 ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup match between New Zealand and England at Eden Park in Auckland, New Zealand. (ICC)

Sciver hit 1346 runs and took 22 wickets in 33 matches in the year, captaining England for much of her side’s home summer.

At the 2022 Women’s ODI World Cup, the all-rounder finished as the tournament’s third highest run scorer, having scored two hundreds against the eventual winners Australia including in the final.

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