Lahore, Jan 6 : Mohammad Rizwan has been adjudged the Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) Most Valuable Cricketer of the Year Today  following a stellar 2021.

The wicket-keeper batter scored 455 runs in Test, 134 runs in ODI, and 1326 runs in T20I cricket, besides accounting for 56 batters behind the wickets across all formats.

For the Most Valuable Cricketer of the Year award, Rizwan beat Babar Azam, Hasan Ali and Shaheen Shah Afridi. The wicket-keeper batter was also unanimously selected by an independent panel as the T20I Cricketer of the Year.

“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,” said Rizwan.

“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,” he added.

Hasan Ali won the Test Cricketer of the Year for his 41 wickets in nine Tests, including a 10-fer and five five-fers as well as two Player of the Match and one Player of the Series awards.

Pakistan captain Babar Azam bagged the ODI Cricketer of the Year award for accumulating 405 runs in six ODIs with two centuries and a half-century.

“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. Last year was sort of a comeback year for me after I 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,” said Hasan.

“Taking 10 wickets against South Africa in Rawalpindi in my second Test in nearly two years and helping Pakistan win the series 2-0 was one of my highlights of the year and a very happy moment that set the stage for the remaining part of the year.”

Shaheen Shah Afridi’s 3 for 31 against India in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 fetched him the Impactful Performance of the Year award.

“I am extremely happy that my performance against our traditional rivals in a global event has been chosen as the Impactful Performance of the Year. For the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, the team wanted an aggressive, fearless and convincing start to set the tone for the rest of the event and I am delighted that I was able to provide exactly that,” said Afridi.

Mohammad Wasim Jr bagged the Emerging Cricketer of the Year for his 45 wickets in 2021, including 15 wickets in his first year of international cricket, while Nida Dar was named as the Women’s Cricketer of the Year after aggregating 604 runs and taking 25 wickets.

Sahibzada Farhan won the Domestic Cricketer of the Year following his 487 runs in the Pakistan Cup, 447 runs in the National T20 and 935 runs in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy.

For the second successive year, PCB’s elite match officials voted Asif Yaqoob as the Umpire of the Year.

Pakistan cricket team’s visit to the Namibia dressing room following their 45 runs victory to appreciate them on their qualification for their maiden ICC Men’s T20 World Cup and reaching the Super-12 stage won them the Spirit of Cricket award.(UNI)