Pakistan’s Captain Babar Azam celebrates the catch of India’s Hardik Pandya in the final over during the ICC men’s T20 World Cup 2022 cricket match between India and Pakistan at Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) in Melbourne on October 23, 2022.— AFP/File
Published in Geo News, on Jan 23rd, 2023
- Babar scored eight 50+ scores in nine games he played.
- Pakistan lost just one ODI in 2022 against Australia.
- Babar Azam is the only Pakistani player in the team.
Pakistan’s batting maestro Babar Azam has been named as the captain of the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) ODI Team of the Year for 2022.
The 28-year-old registered eight scores of more than fifty in the nine games he played in 2022. He finished the year with 679 runs at a mammoth average of 84.87.
The ICC praised Pakistan Skipped saying, “Babar Azam once again showed his prowess in the 50-over format, displaying once again why he has ruled the roost at the top of the ICC Men’s ODI Player Rankings since July 2021.”
ICC, in their press release, added that it was a memorable year for Babar as captain of the Pakistan ODI team as he won all three series. Pakistan were unstoppable in the ODI format, losing just one match (against Australia) out of nine.
ICC said that due to his leadership skills, he leads the ICC Men’s ODI Team of the Year for 2022.
However, Babar is the only Pakistani player to make it to the ICC ODI Team of the Year.
The team includes Babar Azam (c) (Pakistan), Travis Head (Australia), Shai Hope (West Indies), Shreyas Iyer (India), Tom Latham (New Zealand), Sikandar Raza (Zimbabwe), Mehidy Hassan Miraz (Bangladesh), Alzarri Joseph (West Indies), Mohammad Siraj (India), Trent Boult (New Zealand) and Adam Zampa (Australia).