PCB Awards 2021: Mohammad Rizwan Most Valuable Cricketer, Nida Dar Women's Cricketer of the Year

Mohammad Rizwan won the PCB's Most Valuable Cricketer of the Year award following a stellar 2021, in which he scored 455 runs in Test cricket, 134 in ODIs and 1326 in T20Is. He also effected 54 dismissals behind the stumps across the formats.

Babar Azam, Hasan Ali and Shaheen Shah Afridi were the others in the race for the award.

Having become the the first batter to breach the 1000-run mark in a calendar year in T20Is, and the 2000-run mark in T20s, Rizwan was also unanimously selected as the T20I Cricketer of the Year.

"I thought I had an exceptional year in the shortest format of the game when I was able to hit a century early in the year against South Africa and then carry that confidence and momentum for the rest of the year," Rizwan said. "I give a lot of credit to our bowlers who bowled their hearts out and didn't let the pressure get onto the batters by maintaining sustained pressure on the opponents throughout the year."

Hasan won the Test Cricketer of the Year award for his 41 wickets in eight Tests, including five five-fors and a ten-for. "Last year was sort of a comeback year for me after I had missed international cricket in 2020 due to an injury," he said. "I was not only able to make a successful return to international cricket but also played my part in the team's overall success in 2021.

"Taking ten wickets against South Africa in Rawalpindi in my second Test in nearly two years and helping Pakistan win the series 2-0 was one of my highlights of the year and a very happy moment that set the stage for the remaining part of the year."

Babar's 405 runs in six ODIs with two centuries and a half-century bagged him the ODI Cricketer of the Year award, while Nida Dar was named as the Women's Cricketer of the Year. Dar scored 458 runs in white-ball internationals and picked up 11 wickets.

Shaheen bagged the award for the Impactful Performance of the Year for his 3 for 31 against India in Dubai at the T20 World Cup 2021. Afridi's performance helped Pakistan defeat India for the first time at the World Cup.

At the same event, the Pakistan team's visit to the Namibia dressing room to congratulate them on their qualification for their maiden T20 World Cup and reaching the Super-12 stage won them the Spirit of Cricket award.

Mohammad Wasim Junior was named the Emerging Cricketer of the Year for his 45 wickets in 2021, including 15 wickets in his first year of international cricket.

Sahibzada Farhan won the Domestic Cricketer of the Year following his 935 runs in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, 487 runs in the Pakistan Cup and 447 runs in the National T20 Cup.

An independent panel led by former Pakistan captain Rashid Latif made all these selections.

PCB's elite match officials voted Asif Yaqoob as the Umpire of the Year for the second successive year.