Pakistan captain Babar Azam and Australia women’s batter Rachael Haynes were named the winners of the ICC Player of the Month award for the month of March 2022. Azam got the honors thanks to his batting exploits against Australia in their recent series at home.
Australia toured Pakistan for the first time since 1998 and played three Tests, winning the series 1-0, losing the ODI series 2-1, and winning the only T20I match. Babar amassed 390 runs in the three Tests, which included his highest Test score of 196 in the second Test match in Karachi, which helped Pakistan eke out a draw on the final day.
Babar beat fellow nominees Kraigg Brathwaite (West Indies) and Pat Cummins (Australia), and in doing so, became the first player to win the award on two occasions, after being crowned in April 2021.
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“Babar wins this award not only because of the significant glut of runs scored during Pakistan vs Australia tour, but also because his success with the bat across formats. Being able to fulfil the burden of expectation as a captain and batter for Pakistan as host to an Australian team visiting after 24 years is a monumental achievement,” said Darren Ganga, member of ICC voting panel.
On the other hand, Rachael Haynes was named the ICC Player of the Month for March for her batting show in the ICC Women’s World Cup 2022, which saw Australia winning their seventh title.
She scored 429 runs in eight matches at an average of 61.28, and her brilliant batting helped Australia remain unbeaten throughout the world tourney. She pipped fellow nominees Sophie Ecclestone (England) and Laura Wolvaardt (South Africa) to win the award.
“Rachael Haynes has displayed tremendous consistency for Australia. She set the tone for the tournament with a big hundred in their first game and her contributions throughout the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup set a platform for the other batters to build on. Haynes is a quality batter and a leader in women’s game,” said Pakistan’s Sana Mir.
(AP inputs)
