Shaheen Afridi, Mohammad Rizwan, Babar Azam headline PCB Awards 2021

Star cricketers Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, Shaheen Afridi, Fawad Alam have been selected in multiple categories for the PCB Awards 2021.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Tuesday revealed the nominations and categories for the annual awards to acknowledge the national cricketers and officials for their performances in the previous year.

Read more: PCB to unveil nomination of awards 2021 tomorrow

A statement issued by the PCB said that Pakistan bowling sensation Shaheen Shah Afridi has been nominated in five categories.

The 21-year-old left-arm fast bowler has been nominated for the T20I Cricketer of the Year, ODI Cricketer of the Year, Test Cricketer of the Year and Most Valuable Cricketer of the Year categories besides the Impactful Performance of the Year.

Shaheen had a stellar 2021 across all formats as he took 47 wickets in nine Tests, backed up with eight wickets in six ODIs and 23 wickets in 21 T20Is.

"His three for 31 against India in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 has made him one of the four candidates for the Impactful Performance of the Year award," the statement read.

Pakistan's run-machine Mohammad Rizwan has also been nominated in the Impactful Performance of the Year category and two other categories including T20I Cricketer of the Year and Most Valuable Cricketer of the Year.

While Rizwan has earned nominations for the three categories, pacer Hasan Ali has also been shortlisted for the Impactful Performance of the Year, Test Cricketer of the Year and Most Valuable Cricketer of the Year awards.

Moreover, skipper Babar Azam, Fawad Alam and Haris Rauf have been shortlisted in two categories each.

"Babar, who won the Most Valuable Cricketer of 2020, has once again been nominated in this category, while his other nomination is in the ODI Cricketer of the Year."

Making a second successive entry in the Impactful Performance of the Year category, Fawad Alam has his second nomination is in the Test Cricketer of the Year.

Meanwhile, Haris Rauf has been shortlisted in the T20I and ODI Cricketer of the Year categories.

Young cricketers including Arshad Iqbal, Azam Khan, Mohammad Wasim Junior and Shahnawaz Dahani have been shortlisted for the Emerging Cricketer of the Year category.

The eligibility criteria to fall in this category of nominations is that the players born on or after August 1, 1998 or have made international debuts in this calendar year or have played in a minimum of 15 matches in the Cricket Association events and PSL in this calendar year are included.

Player(s) once nominated in this category, cannot be re-nominated. This means Haider Ali and Mohammad Huraira, despite impressive performances, were not considered as they had been shortlisted last year.

Nevertheless, Huraira has been grouped with Asif Afridi, Iftikhar Ahmed, Sahibzada Farhan and Tayyab Tahir for the Domestic Cricketer of the Year award. Whereas Pakistan women squad player Aliya Riaz, who won the award last year, has been shortlisted along with her peers Anam Amin, Fatima and Nida Dar as the nominees to win the Women’s Cricketer of the Year award.

The nominees have been shortlisted by an independent 10-member jury, which comprised former international cricketers, broadcasters and respected members of the media.

The winners of the PCB annual awards will be announced in a virtual digital show, which will be live-streamed on the PCB YouTube and Facebook Channels on Thursday, 6 January 2022, at 7pm PKT.

Shortlists

Domestic Cricketer of the Year

• Asif Afridi (59 wickets in Pakistan Cup, National T20 and Quaid-e-Azam Trophy)
• Iftikhar Ahmed (1,456 runs in Pakistan Cup, National T20 and Quaid-e-Azam Trophy)
• Mohammad Huraira (986 runs in his debut Quaid-e-Azam Trophy)
• Sahibzada Farhan (1869 runs in Pakistan Cup, National T20 and Quaid-e-Azam Trophy)
• Tayyab Tahir (1,670 runs in Pakistan Cup, National T20 and Quaid-e-Azam Trophy

Emerging Cricketer of the Year

• Arshad Iqbal
• Azam Khan
• Mohammad Wasim Jnr
• Shahnawaz Dahani

Women’s Cricketer of the Year

• Aliya Riaz (11 ODIs, 382 runs; 6 T20Is, 94 runs; 364 runs in Pakistan Women’s Cup)
• Anam Amin (9 ODIs, 15 wickets; 6 T20Is, 7 wickets)
• Fatima Sana (13 ODIs, 20 wickets; 3 T20Is, 4 wickets; 6 wickets in Pakistan Women’s Cup)
• Nida Dar (10 ODIs, 363 runs and 6 wickets; 6 T20Is, 95 runs and 7 wickets; 146 runs and 14 wickets in Pakistan Women’s Cup)

Impactful performance of the year

• Fawad Alam (109 v SA, 1st Test)
• Hasan Ali (10-114 v SA, 2nd Test)
• M Rizwan (79* v Ind, T20 World Cup)
• Shaheen Shah Afridi (3-31 v Ind, T20 World Cup)

T20I Cricketer of the Year

• Haris Rauf (23 T20Is, 25 wickets)
• M Rizwan (29 T20Is, 1,326 runs)
• Shadab Khan (18 T20Is, 20 wickets, Eco. 6.64)
• Shaheen Shah Afridi (21 T20Is, 23 wickets. Eco. 7.86)

ODI Cricketer of the Year

• Babar Azam (6 ODIs, 405 runs)
• Fakhar Zaman (6 ODIs, 365 runs)
• Haris Rauf (6 ODIs, 13 wickets)
• Shaheen Shah Afridi (6 ODIs, 8 wickets)

Test Cricketer of the Year

• Abid Ali (9 Tests, 695 runs)
• Fawad Alam (9 Tests, 571 runs)
• Hasan Ali (9 Tests, 41 wickets)
• Shaheen Shah Afridi (9 tests, 47 wickets)

Most Valuable Cricketer of the Year

• Babar Azam (8 Tests, 416 runs; 6 ODIs, 405 runs; 29 T20Is, 939 runs)
• Hasan Ali (8 tests, 41 wickets; 4 ODIs, 7 wickets; 18 T20Is, 25 wickets)
• M Rizwan (9 Tests, 455 runs; 6 ODIs, 134 runs; 29 T20Is, 1,326 runs; total dismissal 56)
• Shaheen Shah Afridi (9 Tests, 47 wickets; 6 ODIs, 8 wickets; 21 T20Is, 23 wickets)

The PCB has also announced nominations for the Umpire of the Year and Spirit of Cricket categories. The winners for these awards will be announced directly on Thursday, 6 January, at 7pm PKT.