ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Tuesday released its list of categories and nominees for the PCB Awards 2021, with fans on social media backing Shaheen Afridi who plays as a fast bowler for the national cricket team.
Players have been nominated in various categories such as the Emerging Cricketer of the Year, Impactful Performance of the Year, ODI Cricketer of the Year, T20I Cricketer of the Year, Test Cricketer of the Year, Domestic Cricketer of the Year and Women’s Cricketer of the Year.
Azam Khan, Mohammad Wasim Jr, Shahnawaz Dahani and Arshad Iqbal have been nominated for the Emerging Cricketer of the Year award.
Fast bowler Shaheen Afridi has been nominated for the Impactful Performance of the Year award, for his destructive 3-31 spell against India at the ICC T20 World Cup. Mohammad Rizwan has been nominated in the same category for his unbeaten 79* against Pakistan’s arch rivals in the T20 World Cup clash.
Fast bowler Hasan Ali has also been nominated for the most impactful performance this year for his 10-114 against South Africa in a Rawalpindi Test match earlier this year. Fawad Alam also makes the cut for the most impactful performance, nominated for his 109-run innings against South Africa earlier this year.
As PCB announced the nominations, fans poured their opinions onto social media, with most backing Shaheen Afridi for the most impactful performance award for his fiery spell against India during the World Cup clash.
Salman Kashif thought Shaheen’s spell had ‘destroyed’ India’s top order.
Among other favoruites is Pakistan skipper Babar Azam who is nominated for ODI Cricketer of the Year. Joining him in the list of nominees are left-handed batter Fakhar Zaman, pace machine Haris Rauf and Pakistan’s attack bowler Shaheen Afridi.
Shaheen Afridi features in the Test Cricketer of the Year award as well with Abid Ali, Hasan Ali and left-handed middle-order batter Fawad Alam.
For the T20I Cricketer of the Year award, fast bowler Haris Rauf, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Afridi and Mohammad Rizwan have been shortlisted. All four players were responsible for valuable contributions that led Pakistan to qualify for the semifinal of last year’s ICC T20 World Cup 2020.
Nida Dar, Fatima Sana, Anam Amin and Aliya Riaz are the nominees for Women’s Cricketer of the Year award, with a majority of fans on social media rooting for Fatima Sana.