Pakistan all-format captain Babar Azam was named the men’s player of the year by the International Cricket Council on Thursday.
Babar and England’s Nat Sciver were picked as the one-day international players of 2022 and England Test captain Ben Stokes was judged the best men’s test cricketer.
Babar led Pakistan to the finals of two Twenty20 tournaments last year — the World Cup and Asia Cup — and scored nearly 2,600 international runs in all formats at an average of 54. Nobody else passed 2,000.
Other highlights included saving a draw in the second test against Australia in Karachi with 196, his highest test score.
He got his second straight ODI men’s award — the first to receive consecutive awards since Virat Kohli in 2017-18 — for leading Pakistan to wins in all three of its ODI series, and scoring 50 or more in eight of the nine matches.
“The most satisfying and accomplishing aspect for me was to compete and perform in front of my home fans against Australia, England and New Zealand’s touring sides,” Babar said in an ICC statement. “Of course, reaching the finals of two major tournaments in the United Arab Emirates and Australia were also some of the highlights for me and my team, and we hope to do better this year.”
Stokes has been leading England’s revolution in the test arena with a fearless attitude. England won nine of its 10 Tests after winning only one of its previous 17. New Zealand and Pakistan were whitewashed.
“We have played some incredible cricket with series wins against New Zealand, South Africa, a significant performance against India and a historic victory in Pakistan,” Stokes said.
“We are enjoying our cricket and love having fun wherever we play. The way in which we approach test cricket is to excite the fans and making it a spectacle for everyone to get behind and enjoy regardless of the result for England.”
Sciver became the first English women’s winner of the ODI award since Sarah Taylor in 2014.
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