By Sohail Ali
LAHORE, Jan 24 (APP): Pakistan skipper Babar Azam has been included in the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Test team of the Year 2022 for his sterling performances in the calendar year.
This is the first time that the Pakistani batting maestro has made it to the ICC Test XI of the Year, said a statement of the International Cricket Council (ICC) here on Tuesday. He is the only Pakistani player to make it to the XI this year.
The Pakistan skipper scored 1184 runs at an average of 69.94 in the nine matches he played in the year. Babar also scored four centuries, one each against the four opponents he faced, in 2022.
Babar scored a total of 390 runs in the long-awaited home series against Australia. The run machine did not stop against England too and amassed 348 runs when England visited later in the year.
Babar’s gritty 196 against the Aussies in Karachi in March was, and still is, his highest individual score in Tests.
The Pakistan skipper was also the only Pakistani player to make it to the ICC’s ODI Team of the Year for 2022 and was named the captain of the side for leading Pakistan to 3 series wins in 2022.
Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), on the announcement, shared a message on Twitter stating, “Babar
Azam has been selected in the ICC Men’s ODI Team of the Year for the fourth time since 2017
(second time as captain) and first time in the ICC Men’s Test Team of the Year.”
The year’s top XI includes four Aussies, three Englishmen, one West Indian, South African, Indian
and Pakistani each. Here are all the 11 players who made the selection for the ICC’s Men’s Test XI
of the year.
The ICC team includes Usman Khawaja (Australia), Kraigg Brathwaite (West Indies), Marnus Labuschagne (Australia), Babar Azam (Pakistan), Jonny Bairstow (England), Ben Stokes (England), Rishabh Pant (India),
Pat Cummins (Australia), Kagiso Rabada(South Africa), Nathan Lyon(Australia), and James Anderson (England).
