Babar Azam named Men's ODI cricketer of the year for 2021

In what comes as big news, Pakistan skipper Babar Azam has been named as the Men's ODI Cricketer of 2021. He beat the likes of Shakib Al Hasan, Janneman Malan and Paul Stirling to win this prestigious award. It is to be noted that this is his third mention in the 2021 awards.

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Earlier, the Pakistan skipper was named the captain of both, the ODI, as well as the T20I team of 2021. Cricket's governing body announced the batting maestro as the ODI player of the year on Monday. Azam was absolutely sensational in the previous year and scored runs on a consistent basis.

When it comes to his individual performances, he scored 405 runs in the six ODIs he played. This includes two hundreds as well. Besides, the Asian batter played all his ODIs against top teams, i.e. South Africa and England.

He was one of the best players in the three-match ODI series against the Proteas in 2021 and was the second-highest run-getter in that series. While he scored a match-winning century in the first 50-over game, he went on to score an amazing 82-ball 94 in the final ODI, where the visitors posted 320 batting first.

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He was then the lone-warrior during the one-day series against England, which saw the Asian side getting whitewashed by the hosts. Azam scored 177 runs in the three games. As a matter of fact, he scored a brilliant 158 in the third and final game in Birmingham.

In the meanwhile, his teammate Mohammed Rizwan was crowned Men's T20I cricketer of 2021. The keeper-batter from Pakistan had a year to remember as well, as he consistently scored runs across all three formats of the game.