Babar Azam and Shaheen Afridi also bagged other major PCB awards for 2021.
Pakistan wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan won the award for the Most Valuable Cricketer of the Year as the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) announced the winners of the PCB Awards 2021 on January 6, 2022.
The PCB Awards 2021 was an effort by the Pakistan board to recognize and appreciate the players and match officials for their achievements, as well as their contributions to the game this year.
There were a total of 10 categories, including Spirit of Cricket and Umpire of the Year, announced by the PCB in a virtual digital show presented by Roha Nadeem and Sikander Bakht. It will be available on PCB’s YouTube channel on Thursday, January 20, 2022.
Rizwan beat Babar Azam, Hasan Ali, and Shaheen Afridi to win the PCB’s Most Valuable Cricketer of the Year. He was also "unanimously selected by an independent panel as the T20I Cricketer of the Year."
The PCB said in a statement on Thursday: “Mohammad Rizwan has won the PCB’s Most Valuable Cricketer of the Year award following a stellar 2021 in which he scored 455 Test, 134 ODI (One-Day International) and 1,326 T20I (Twenty20 International) runs, besides accounting for 56 batsmen behind the wickets across all formats.”
Meanwhile, Rizwan in a PCB release: “I feel humbled and honored to have been adjudged Pakistan's Most Valuable Cricketer of 2021. This is the PCB's most prestigious award and to be recognized for my contributions in the team's superlative performances across all formats in 2021 in such a way gives me tremendous satisfaction and happiness.”
He added, “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.”
On the other hand, Pakistan captain Babar Azam bagged the PCB's ODI Cricketer of the Year award for amassing 405 runs in six ODIs with two centuries and a half-century, while Hassan Ali won the PCB's Test Cricketer of the Year for his 41 wickets in 9 Tests, including a 10-for and five, five-fors as well.
Hassan stated: “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.”
The star pacer added, “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.”
Meanwhile, Shaheen Shah Afridi won him the Impactful Performance of the Year award by PCB.
Afridi said, “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.”
Impactful performance of the year — Shaheen Shah Afridi
Emerging Cricketer of the Year — Mohammad Wasim Jnr
ODI Cricketer of the Year — Babar Azam
Women’s Cricketer of the Year — Nida Dar
Test Cricketer of the Year — Hasan Ali
T20I Cricketer of the Year — Mohammad Rizwan
Umpire of the Year — Asif Yaqoob
Domestic Cricketer of the Year — Sahibzada Farhan
Most Valuable Cricketer of the Year — Mohammad Rizwan
Spirit of Cricket — Pakistan team’s visit to the Namibia team’s dressing room following their 45 runs victory to congratulate the Namibia side for qualifying for their maiden ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 and then progressing to the Super-12 Stage.
(With PCB/ANI Inputs)