LAHORE: Pakistan’s star batter Babar Azam has been named among the nominees for the International Cricket Council (ICC) Men’s T20I Cricketer of the Year Award.
Babar, who currently is the top-ranked one-day international (ODI) batter and is at the sixth spot on the T20I rankings, is nominated alongside India’s Arshdeep Singh, Australia’s Travis Head and Zimbabwe’s Sikandar Raza.
The nomination comes as despite a mixed year with the bat, the former Pakistan skipper scored 738 runs in 24 matches at a decent average of 33.54 with the help of six half-centuries and almost a hundred boundaries.
The outgoing year reflected an improvement in his strike rate, with the batter clocking 133.21 runs every 100 deliveries.
The right-handed batter’s best performance came in the three-match away series against Ireland ahead of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 when he scored 75 from 42 balls with the help of six fours and five sixes at an exemplary strike rate of 178.57.
Meanwhile, nominee India’s left-arm pacer Arshdeep enjoyed a stellar year in the format, picking up 36 wickets in 18 matches at a magnificent average of 13.5 and the best bowling figures of 4-9.
