The International Cricket Council announced Pakistan captain Babar Azam as the ODI Men’s cricketer of the Year 2021. In his thank-you speech for the honours, Babar thanked the team for their brilliant support saying that he could not have received it without the support of his teammates.
The 26-year-old who scored 405 runs in six ODI matches in 2021 at an average of 67.50 with two centuries in his kitty also thanked his fans and parents for their support.
“Firstly I would like to thank the fans for their overwhelming support and next I would thank the PCB and ICC as well. My team members especially deserve thank you because without their belief in me, it wouldn’t have been possible and I would also like to thank my parents because they have prayed a lot for my success,” said Babar.
Asked as to what his best innings of the year, the Pak skipper said, “It would have to the century against England. It is also my highest score in ODIs and more than that, it was something that I needed in my armoury more than anything else at that point. I was going through a bit of a lean patch.”
Babar outweighed the likes of Shakib Al Hasan, Paul Stirling and recipient of the ICC Emerging Cricketer of the Year 2021 award, South Africa’s Janneman Malan to win this.
On the other hand, South Africa Women’s opener Lizelle Lee, who scored 632 runs in 11 matches at an average of 90.28 with one century and five half-centuries was awarded the ODI Women’s cricketer of the year 2021.
Lee in her acceptance speech said, “To be honest with you, I didn’t expect this. This award could have gone to anybody and I feel privileged to have won this in a very tough and competitive pool of players.”
Lee defeated West Indies’ Hayley Matthews, England’s Tammy Beaumont and Pakistan’s Sana Fatima in the race to the crown of the Women’s ODI cricketer of the year.