Rizwan, Babar, and Shaheen bag PCB Awards 2021

• There were a total of 10 categories identified with eight player’s category and two special categories.
• Mohammad Rizwan bags two awards.
• Babar Azam becomes ODI Cricketer of the Year.

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Thursday announced the winners of PCB Awards 2021 on its digital platforms.

PCB Awards 2021 was an effort by the Board to recognise and appreciate the players and match officials for their achievements, as well as their contributions.

There were a total of 10 categories identified with eight player’s categories and two special categories, including Spirit of Cricket and Umpire of the Year.

Following is the complete list of winners in all categories announced by PCB in a press release issued today:

Impactful performance of the year — Shaheen Shah Afridi

Emerging Cricketer of the Year — Mohammad Wasim Jnr

ODI Cricketer of the Year — Babar Azam

Women’s Cricketer of the Year — Nida Dar

Test Cricketer of the Year — Hasan Ali

T20I Cricketer of the Year — Mohammad Rizwan

Spirit of Cricket — Pakistan cricket team’s visit to the Namibia cricket team’s dressing room following their 45 runs victory to congratulate the Namibia side for qualifying for their maiden ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 and then progressing to the Super-12 Stage.

Umpire of the Year — Asif Yaqoob

Domestic Cricketer of the Year — Sahibzada Farhan

Most Valuable Cricketer of the Year — Mohammad Rizwan

Speaking on the occasion, PCB Chairman Ramiz Raja said: “On behalf of the PCB, I want to congratulate each award winner. They deserve all the applause and accolades for their tremendous consistency across all formats in difficult times that inspired their sides to outstanding performances throughout 2021, which have been widely acknowledged by the Pakistan cricket fans.”

The independent panel that selected the winners included Rashid Latif, Marina Iqbal (former international cricketers), Tariq Saeed (broadcaster), Mazher Arshad (statistician), Majid Bhatti, Mohammad Yaqoob, Mohi Shah, Rizwan Ali, Shahid Hashmi and Sohail Imran (journalist).

Mohammad Rizwan won the PCB’s Most Valuable Cricketer of the Year award following a stellar 2021 in which he scored 455 Test, 134 ODI and 1,326 T20I runs, besides accounting for 56 batsmen behind the wickets across all formats.

“I feel humbled and honoured to have been adjudged Pakistan’s Most Valuable Cricketer of 2021. This is the PCB’s most prestigious award and to be recognised for my contributions in the team’s superlative performances across all formats in 2021 in such a way gives me tremendous satisfaction and happiness,” Rizwan said.

“I thought I had an exceptional year in the shortest format of the game when I was able to hit a century early in the year against South Africa and then carry that confidence and momentum for the rest of the year. I give a lot of credit to our bowlers who bowled their hearts out and didn’t let the pressure get onto the batters by maintaining sustained pressure on the opponents throughout the year.”

Meanwhile, Hasan Ali said: “Test cricket is the pinnacle format of the game and to be adjudged as the Test Cricketer of the Year is a proud moment for me.”

He further added that last year was sort of a comeback year for him after he had missed international cricket in 2020 due to an injury.

“I was not only able to make a successful return to international cricket but also played my part in the team’s overall success in 2021.”