ICC picks Babar Azam for ‘ODI Cricketer of the Year’ and ‘Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for ICC Men’s Cricketer of 2022’

The International Cricket Council (ICC) picked Pakistan captain Babar Azam for the ‘ODI cricketer of the Year’ award and also for the ‘Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for the ICC Men’s Cricketer of 2022’.

Babar, who had won the ‘ODI Cricketer of the Year’ award in 2021, became the first player to win the award twice after India’s former captain Virat Kohli, who won the award in 2017 and 2018.

The 28-year-old Pakistani batsman was the only player to score more than 2,000 runs in 2022 across three formats. He plundered 2,598 runs at an impressive average of 54.12 with eight hundreds and 17 fifties during the calendar year — the best of his career.

As captain, Babar led Pakistan to the finals of the T20 Asia Cup in the UAE and the T20 World Cup in Australia. Under his captaincy, Pakistan also registered eight consecutive ODI wins during the year.