Joe Root has flooded runs in Tests. Mohammad Rizwan has shown tremendous performance in T20. They have batting as well, Kane Williamson has left an imprint of a sharp brain in the captaincy.
Even then, the ICC Men’s Cricketer of the Year award went to none of them. Pakistan fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi has won the ‘Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy’ of the Year.
Today (Monday) the ICC announced the name of the cricketer of the year. Where Shaheen became the first Pakistani cricketer to win this award. Indian opener Smriti Mandhana has been named the best female cricketer of the year.
Shaheen has spent a year like a dream. In 2021, he has tested all the big batter in the world. He took 78 wickets in 36 matches played in all formats of international cricket. Average 22.20. The best bowling figure is 6/51. Shaheen has taken the most tests of the opponent’s batsmen in the T20 format. In the 2021 T20 World Cup, this left-arm pacer has set fire to the ball.
Remember the India-Pakistan match in T20 World Cup? For the first time, Pakistan got a taste of winning to India in the World Cup. Shaheen was the best player of this match. The way Lokesh dismissed Rahul and Rohit Sharma in the opening spell, the scene will be etched in the memory of the viewers for a long time to come.
Meanwhile, Joe Root has been named Test Cricketer of the Year despite losing the Cricketer of the Year award. He won the award in red ball cricket, beating Dimuth Karunaratne of Sri Lanka, Ravichandran Ashwin of India and Kyle Jamieson of New Zealand. Root became the second English cricketer to win the award. Earlier, Alastair Cook had won the Test Cricketer of the Year award in 2011.