PCB reveals nominations and categories for annual awards to acknowledge national cricketers and officials
Spokesman Report
LAHORE: Star cricketers Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, Shaheen Afridi, Fawad Alam have been selected in multiple categories for the PCB Awards 2021.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Tuesday revealed the nominations and categories for the annual awards to acknowledge the national cricketers and officials for their performances in the previous year.
A statement issued by the PCB said that Pakistan bowling sensation Shaheen Shah Afridi has been nominated in five categories.
The 21-year-old left-arm fast bowler has been nominated for the T20I Cricketer of the Year, ODI Cricketer of the Year, Test Cricketer of the Year and Most Valuable Cricketer of the Year categories besides the Impactful Performance of the Year.
Shaheen had a stellar 2021 across all formats as he took 47 wickets in nine Tests, backed up with eight wickets in six ODIs and 23 wickets in 21 T20Is.
“His three for 31 against India in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 has made him one of the four candidates for the Impactful Performance of the Year award,” the statement read.
Pakistan’s run-machine Mohammad Rizwan has also been nominated in the Impactful Performance of the Year category and two other categories including T20I Cricketer of the Year and Most Valuable Cricketer of the Year.
While Rizwan has earned nominations for the three categories, pacer Hasan Ali has also been shortlisted for the Impactful Performance of the Year, Test Cricketer of the Year and Most Valuable Cricketer of the Year awards.
Moreover, skipper Babar Azam, Fawad Alam and Haris Rauf have been shortlisted in two categories each.
“Babar, who won the Most Valuable Cricketer of 2020, has once again been nominated in this category, while his other nomination is in the ODI Cricketer of the Year.”
Making a second successive entry in the Impactful Performance of the Year category, Fawad Alam has his second nomination is in the Test Cricketer of the Year.
Meanwhile, Haris Rauf has been shortlisted in the T20I and ODI Cricketer of the Year categories.
Young cricketers including Arshad Iqbal, Azam Khan, Mohammad Wasim Junior and Shahnawaz Dahani have been shortlisted for the Emerging Cricketer of the Year category.
The eligibility criteria to fall in this category of nominations is that the players born on or after August 1, 1998 or have made international debuts in this calendar year or have played in a minimum of 15 matches in the Cricket Association events and PSL in this calendar year are included.
Player(s) once nominated in this category, cannot be re-nominated. This means Haider Ali and Mohammad Huraira, despite impressive performances, were not considered as they had been shortlisted last year.
Nevertheless, Huraira has been grouped with Asif Afridi, Iftikhar Ahmed, Sahibzada Farhan and Tayyab Tahir for the Domestic Cricketer of the Year award. Whereas Pakistan women squad player Aliya Riaz, who won the award last year, has been shortlisted along with her peers Anam Amin, Fatima and Nida Dar as the nominees to win the Women’s Cricketer of the Year award.
The nominees have been shortlisted by an independent 10-member jury, which comprised former international cricketers, broadcasters and respected members of the media.
The winners of the PCB annual awards will be announced in a virtual digital show, which will be live-streamed on the PCB YouTube and Facebook Channels on Thursday, 6 January 2022, at 7pm PKT.