Babar Azam, the captain of Pakistan across all formats, is one of the contenders for the prestigious ICC Cricketer of the Year award. Along with Zimbabwean all-rounder Sikandar Raza, Test captain of England Ben Stokes, Test captain of New Zealand Tim Southee, and Babar.
Babar completed 2022 as the player with the most runs scored across all three formats. Babar was the only cricketer in the world to surpass 2,000 runs in a calendar year, scoring 2,598 runs at an average of 54.12 in 52 international innings.
The elegant batsman led the calendar year with 8 international hundreds. Jonny Bairstow of England, who has six centuries to his credit, placed second on the list. In 2022, Babar scored four century in Tests, three in ODIs, and one in T20Is.
Ben Stokes, who led England’s Test team to victory in Australia and had an outstanding year as Test captain, is also up for the award alongside Babar. In 28 international games during the year, Stokes amassed 33 wickets in addition to 1,066 runs scored. In their three-match series against Pakistan, Stokes changed England’s fortunes as captain and guided them to a historic whitewash.
One of the stars of the show for New Zealand was pacemaker Tim Southee. Southee played 39 innings of international cricket in 2022, taking 65 wickets at a 28.67 average. In the present first Test match between New Zealand and Pakistan in Karachi, Southee is also close to leading his team to victory.
Last but not least, Sikandar Raza of Zimbabwe is the fourth candidate for the honour. The nominations for the ODI and T20I player of the year include Raza as well. Over the course of the year, Raza was excellent with both the bat and the ball. In 39 games he played in the calendar year, he amassed 1,380 runs and 33 wickets. He was crucial to Zimbabwe’s ability to advance to the Super 12s.
