Pakistan captain Babar Azam was declared the ODI Cricketer of the Year by the International Cricket Council (ICC) on Monday.
This is the third mention of Babar Azam at the ICC Awards 2021. Earlier he was declared the captain of the T20 and ODI teams of the year by the ICC.
The year 2021 has been one of memorable for the national team as many Pakistani cricketers were nominated for international awards due to their stellar performances.
Bangladesh's Shakib Al Hasan, South Africa's Janman Malan and Ireland's Paul Stirling were also nominated for the ODI Cricketer of the Year award.
The Pakistani captain played only six ODIs last year but he contributed significantly to the two series played by Pakistan this year. He scored 405 runs in six matches at an average of 67.50 with two centuries.
He was the second-highest run-scorer with 228 runs and was the player of the match in both Pakistan's victories in the 2–1 series win against South Africa. Babar, who chased down Pakistan's 274 in the first ODI, scored a century and laid the foundation for 94 off 82 balls in the final ODI, where the visitors scored 320 while batting first.
He was the lone crusader for Pakistan when they were beaten 3-0 by England. He scored 177 runs in three matches but found no support and no batsman managed to score more than 100 runs in the series.
The star batsman's best performance in 2021 came in the form of a loss in the final ODI against England.
With the series already lost, Pakistan were proudly playing crucial ICC Cricket World Cup Super League points in the third ODI in Birmingham. Coming to bat first, Pakistan scored 331 runs, in which Babar was close to half the team's run.
Babar, who came out to bat at the beginning of the innings, got Pakistan out of trouble by sharing a 92-run partnership with Imam-ul-Haq. He was cautious in his approach initially, reaching his fifty in 72 balls. He made up for it by scoring the next fifty in just 32 balls - his second ODI century of the year.
With the milestone out of the way, he exploded in the death overs and batted almost through the innings, being dismissed for 158 in the last over, his highest ODI score to date.
Unfortunately for Pakistan, James Vince and Lewis Gregory stole the show with a scintillating 129-run partnership for the sixth wicket as England chased down a total with two overs to spare.