LONDON: Pakistan paceman Shaheen Afridi was named player of the year by the International Cricket Council on Monday, with England captain Joe Root selected as the outstanding Test cricketer in 2021.
Afridi’s 78 wickets in 36 internationals across different formats secured him the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy, with best bowling figures of 6-51 in a Test match against the West Indies.
He claimed 47 wickets in only nine Tests at an impressive average of 17.06 and took seven wickets in six matches during Pakistan’s run to the semifinal of the Twenty20 World Cup.
“In 2021 our team performed really well and we won some very good matches,” the 21-year-old said.
“I had many good performances including five-fors in Tests but the most memorable one for me would be the one we won against India (he took three wickets against them at the T20 World Cup),” he added.
“It was a historical match and matches with India draw a big audience.”
Root picked up the award for men’s Test player of the year after scoring 1,708 runs in 15 matches in 2021.
His tally is the third-highest total on record in a calendar year, with only former Pakistan player Mohammad Yousuf and West Indies great Viv Richards ahead of him.
Root registered two double centuries and a further four hundreds, including three in successive Tests against India during England’s home series.
“I am incredibly proud to receive this award,” said the 31-year-old, only the second Englishman to win the accolade after Alastair Cook in 2011.
“I am very humbled to be in the same breath as a number of wonderful players around the world and it means a huge amount.”
Despite Root’s personal achievements, England had a poor year in Test cricket, winning just four out of their 15 matches.
They lost the Ashes in Australia — where Root failed to score a century — and also lost series against India and New Zealand.
India’s Smriti Mandhana won the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy for ICC women’s cricketer of the year.
Pakistan’s Shaheen Afridi wins ICC Cricketer of the Year award
https://arab.news/yw3pz
Pakistan’s Shaheen Afridi wins ICC Cricketer of the Year award
- Afridi’s 78 wickets in 36 matches across different formats secure him Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy
- The Pakistani paceman claimed 47 wickets in only nine Tests at an impressive average of 17.06
Pakistan issues over $7 billion sukuk in 2025, nears 20 percent Shariah-compliant debt target
- Finance Adviser Khurram Schehzad says this was the highest-ever Sukuk issuance in a single calendar year since 2008
- Pakistan’s Federal Shariat Court ordered in 2022 the entire banking system to transition to Islamic principles by 2027
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Finance Adviser Khurram Schehzad on Monday said the country achieved a landmark breakthrough in Islamic finance by issuing over Rs2 trillion ($7 billion) sukuk this year, bringing it closer to its 20 percent Shariah-compliant debt target by Fiscal Year 2027-28.
A sukuk is an Islamic financial certificate, similar to a bond, but it complies with Shariah law, which forbids interest. Pakistan’s Federal Shariat Court (FSC) had directed the government in April 2022 to eliminate interest and align the country’s entire banking system with Islamic principles by 2027.
Following the ruling, the government and the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) have undertaken a series of measures, including legal reforms and the issuance of sukuk to replace interest-based treasury bills and investment bonds.
“In 2025, the Ministry of Finance (MoF) through its Debt Management Office, together with its Joint Financial Advisers (JFAs), successfully issued over PKR 2 trillion in Sukuk,” Schehzad said on X, describing it as “the highest-ever Sukuk issuance in a single calendar year since 2008 by Pakistan.”
Pakistan made a total of 61 issuances across one-, three-, five- and 10-year tenors, according to the finance adviser. The country also successfully launched its first Green Sukuk, a Shariah-compliant bond designed to fund environment-friendly projects.
He said the Green Sukuk was 5.4 times oversubscribed, indicating investor demand was more than five times higher than the amount the government planned to raise, which showed strong market confidence.
“The rising share of Islamic instruments in the government’s domestic securities portfolio (domestic debt) underscores strong momentum, growing from 12.6 percent in June 2025 to around 14.5 percent by December 2025, clearly positioning the MoF to achieve its 20 percent Shariah-compliant debt target by FY28,” Schehzad said.
“This milestone also reflects the structural deepening of Pakistan’s Islamic capital market, sustained investor confidence, and the strengthening of sovereign debt management.”
He said Pakistan was strengthening its government securities market by making it more resilient, diversified, and future-ready, supported by a stabilizing macroeconomic environment, a disciplined debt strategy, and a clear roadmap for Islamic finance.
