Shaheen Afridi won the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy, rather known as the “ICC Men’s Cricketer of the Year” Trophy for the year. Afridi became the first Pakistan cricketer to win Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy since the year 2004. Shaheen took 78 wickets in 36 games, played in all formats. The best bowling figures were 6 wickets for 51 runs against West Indies. Shaheen also states that his memorable game will always be the one against India as the top order was shattered by Shaheen’s spell.
Joe Root was awarded the Test Cricketer of the Year for the first time. Root scored more than 1700 runs in 15 matches. Root’s sensational year involved 6 centuries, two of which were double hundreds. Root was the first England player to get awarded The Test Cricketer of the Year after Alastair Cook (2011).
Babar Azam became the first Pakistan player to win the “ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year” Trophy as he scored 405 runs in 6 ODI games played throughout 2021. With an average score of 67.50, Babar scored two centuries and one-half century. Babar recorded his career’s best innings with a score of 158 runs against England in Birmingham.
Mohammad Rizwan was the winner of “ ICC Male T20I Cricketer of the Year”. Earlier ICC had a Trophy for “Best Performance in T20I of the Year” which changed to this. The wicketkeeper-batsman from Pakistan scored 1326 runs across 26 innings. He played with an average of 73.66 and more importantly with a strike rate of 134.89, which includes a century and 12 fifties. Rizwan became the first player to score more than 1000 runs in T20I in a calendar year.
South African batsman Janeman Malan was honoured with the “ ICC Emerging Cricketer of the Year” for 2021 as the Proteas batsman has scored 715 runs in 17 international games, having an average of 47.66. His innings of 2021 also include 2 centuries and 3 half-centuries.
Oman cricket team captain Zeeshan Maqsood was awarded the “ICC Men’s Associate Cricketer of the Year” for 2021.
Apart from the Player’s Trophy, ICC honoured Marais Erasmus as the “ICC Umpire of the Year” for the year 2021. Erasmus recently completed his 100 ODI games as an umpire and have successfully been umpiring since his debut in refereeing and umpiring the matches.
