Rizwan bags 2021 PCB awards for most valuable cricketer, T20I cricketer of the year

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani wicketkeeper batter Mohammad Rizwan was on Thursday declared the ‘T20I Cricketer of the Year’ and the ‘Most Valuable Cricketer of the Year’ at the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Awards 2021.
The awards were held to celebrate the achievements of the men and women’s cricket teams through the year. 
Mohammad Rizwan won the PCB’s ‘Most Valuable Cricketer of the Year’ award following a stellar 2021 in which he scored 455 Test, 134 ODI and 1,326 T20I runs, besides accounting for 56 batsmen behind the wickets across all formats.
For the ‘Most Valuable Cricketer of the Year award’, Rizwan beat the challenge of Babar Azam, Hasan Ali and Shaheen Shah Afridi, who also had an impressive and outstanding yea reflected in Pakistan’s overall performance in 2021.
“I feel humbled and honoured to have been adjudged Pakistan’s Most Valuable Cricketer of 2021. This is the PCB’s most prestigious award and to be recognised for my contributions in the team’s superlative performances across all formats in 2021 in such a way gives me tremendous satisfaction and happiness,” Rizwan said. 
Pakistan’s left-arm pace sensation Shaheen Afridi bagged the ‘Most Impactful Performance of the Year’ award for his lethal 3/31 bowling against India at the ICC T20 World Cup 2020 last year.  
“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,” Afridi said. “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.” 
Fast bowler Hasan Ali bagged the Test Cricketer of the Year award for taking an impressive 41 wickets from nine Tests, including a 10-for and five, five-fors as well as two Player-of-the-Match and one Player-of-the-Series awards. 
The fast bowler described it as a “proud moment”, mentioning his comeback last year after a gruelling back injury.  
“Last year was sort of a comeback year for me after I had missed international cricket in 2020 due to an injury. 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. 
“Taking 10 wickets against South Africa in Rawalpindi in my second Test in nearly two years and helping Pakistan win the series 2-0 was one of my highlights of the year and a very happy moment that set the stage for the remaining part of the year,” he added.
Pakistan’s all-format captain Babar Azam bagged the ‘ODI Cricketer of the Year’ award for scoring 405 runs in six ODIs with two centuries and a half-century.  
Mohammad Wasim Junior bagged the Emerging Cricketer of the Year for his 45 wickets in 2021, including 15 wickets in his first year of international cricket, while Nida Dar was named as the Women’s Cricketer of the Year after aggregating 604 runs and taking 25 wickets. 
Sahibzada Farhan won the Domestic Cricketer of the Year award following his 487 runs in the Pakistan Cup, 447 runs in the National T20 and 935 runs in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy. 
Pakistan cricket team’s visit to the Namibia dressing room following their 45-run victory to congratulate and appreciate the minnows on their qualification for their maiden ICC Men’s T20 World Cup and reaching the Super-12 stage won them the Spirit of Cricket award. 
For the second time in a year, the PCB’s elite match officials voted Asif Yaqoob as the ‘Umpire of the Year’.  
PCB Chairman Ramiz Raja congratulated the winners, lauding them for remaining consistent throughout the year across all formats of the sport.  
Members of the independent panel that selected the names of the winners are: Rashid Latif, Marina Iqbal (former international cricketers), Tariq Saeed (broadcaster), Mazher Arshad (statistician), Majid Bhatti, Mohammad Yaqoob, Mohi Shah, Rizwan Ali, Shahid Hashmi and Sohail Imran (all journalists).