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‘Give him Zimbu of the year’ – Fans rip apart Babar Azam as he gets named ODI Player of the Year 2022
Ace Pakistan batter and the skipper of the national team, Babar Azam, rises to yet another high in his already-glittering career as he bags the Men’s ODI Player of the Year 2022 award. He played 9 ODIs and scored 679 runs at an average of 84.87 with three centuries and five half-centuries and a top score of 114 in 2022.
Babar also currently stands at the top of the ODI Batting Rankings with 887 ratings, above Rassie van der Dussen and Quinton de Kock who are in second and third positions respectively. This is his second-most prolific calendar year in terms of batting average for Babar with the highest being 110.50 from the year 2020.
Babar had one of the best starts to a year in 2022, making five scores of over 50 in the first five ODIs with the bat. He scored 57, 114 and 105 against Australia in March, and scored 103 and 77 against West Indies in June. He also had a prolific series against the Netherlands in August, scoring 74, 57 and 91 in the three-match ODI series in Rotterdam to tee off a successful ODI season.
Babar Azam named captain of the ODI Team of the Year
Babar is also named the captain of the ODI Team of the Year and is also the only Pakistani among the 11 players. Pakistan, in 2022, played 9 ODIs and lost only one game, which was their very first game of the year. They lost to Australia by 88 runs in Lahore on March 29. Although Pakistan had a successful 2022, as far as the 50-over format is concerned, the main concern lies in the other two formats after a horror home series against England and New Zealand. Consequently, a lot of fans have criticised and mocked Cricket Governing Body’s choice to pick Babar as the Player and Captain of the Year.
Other top-order batters in the team are Australia’s Travis Head and West Indies’ Shai Hope. The middle order comprises star New Zealand batter Tom Latham, alongside spin-bowling allrounders Sikandar Raza from Zimbabwe and Mehidy Hasan Miraz from Bangladesh.
The bowlers lined up in the XI are West Indies’ tearaway pacer, Alzarri Joseph, India’s emerging speedster and the new no.1 ranked ODI bowler Mohammed Siraj, New Zealand’s veteran seamer Trent Boult and Australia’s leg-spinner Adam Zampa.
Here’s how fans reacted Babar Azam being named as the ODI Player of the Year 2022:
Dark day for Cricket
— Captain Levi (@KumarShresth007) January 26, 2023
Use this as a don't care button
— 👑 King Kohli 🇮🇳 Fan Account♥️ (@Virat_Anushka) January 26, 2023
Congrats. Next year Prince of Fazilka Shubhman Gill will grab this award hands Down
— Saurabh Srivastava (@saurabhashu44) January 26, 2023
Shows how odi cricket standard has fall down
— Cricket troll corner (@adityaraj2kfrek) January 26, 2023
When we say the best ODI player,why it should be given only to a batsman, why can't we give an award to a good ODI bowler?
— Jaammii..🥁 (@Jaammiing) January 26, 2023
how many runs in winning cause through out the year??? 😭😭😭😭😭clown icc🤡🤡🤡🤡
— Kawal7818 (@kawal7818) January 26, 2023
Babar Azam ek accha player h…pr great player nhi…hmesa statpadding krke run bnata h
— Dr. Dang (@thakursahab_420) January 26, 2023
Now I understand why this country is suffering from bankruptcy. Well paid PCB
— Deba pratim Ghosh (@DPGhosh98) January 26, 2023
Robbed…💔 pic.twitter.com/ftytUilyih
— Akhilesh Shetti (@Akhil3017) January 26, 2023
— Purva Kadam (@Kohlifitoor) January 26, 2023
My Indian friend after watching this. pic.twitter.com/9QZ1TWXqXK
— Cricket Insights (@TheCricketPath) January 26, 2023
Give him also Zimbu of the year and koi farak nahi padta award too. pic.twitter.com/7Dl9vUvN0C
— Sabuj 🇮🇳 (@sabuj471) January 26, 2023
