KARACHI: Pakistan men’s team captain and the side’s go-to batter Babar Azam has been nominated for ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year award. His nomination was announced by the ICC on Thursday noon.
Babar has been rock solid in the limited overs formats for Pakistan and has been the mainstay of the team for a while now. In the six ODIs that Pakistan played this year, Babar outshone the rest of the team mates and scored 405 runs at a healthy average of 67.50 with two centuries.
He played a crucial role in helping Pakistan win their second ODI series in South Africa earlier this year. Babar’s best batting display arguably came in a losing cause this year when he smashed his highest score 158 against England. Pakistan went on to lose the game but Babar showed glimpses of what the future holds for him.
Other nominated players are Bangladesh’s Shakib al Hasan, South Africa’s Janneman Malan and Ireland’s Paul Stirling.