The Magnificent Seven

 

Published in Bol News on Jan 30th, 2022, Sohaib Alvi

For the first time ever, seven Pakistanis featured in the final honours list with four winning an individual award

Hindsight may be 20/20 but its 2021 that Pakistanis will look back on and say, “I told you so”. Truly, throughout the past 12 months, there was a sense that this was going to be Pakistan’s year. It may have started with a huge defeat at the Hagley Oval, but even then there were signs of the young ones standing up against all the odds. Especially if the previous Test in December 2020 was to be considered where Pakistan almost secured a draw. This is despite Babar Azam not being able to play in both Tests & the ODIs preceding them due to injury.

As in the classic 1960 movie The Magnificent Seven, there were some in the year 2021 who stood out in their resistance and devotion to the cause. Babar Azam could be analogized here with the debonair Yul Brynner who leads the other men to protect the sanctity of the village and trains the locals into standing up for themselves.

As seen there, it takes all sorts and teamwork to achieve the goal of defending and winning. If the seven Pakistanis who won the ICC award in different categories played major roles in the Tests, ODIs and T20Is, there were minor, supporting characters who in many ways enabled them to do so; and on occasions took the lead in a particular match.

The ICC defines the awards as performances on the world stage, including in the ICC World Test Championship Final, ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 and numerous hard-fought bilateral series.

Every year the nominees for each category are decided by an Awards Panel put together by the global cricket body, comprising prominent journalists and broadcasters from all over the world as well as the ICC General Manager. Then there are the fans across the globe. Their weightage however is 10% contrary to the understanding of many that voting determines the overall winner, in which case the countries with the higher population and fan base would take away the award every year. The other 90% is by the Awards Panel, also called Voting Academy.

The Pakistani men cricketers were contenders in all the nominations, while among Pakistani women cricketers there was one. What has been celebratory and what has made 2021 the annus mirabilis for Pakistan cricket is that every cricketer who was nominated won an award.  For the first time ever, seven Pakistanis featured in the final honours list with four winning an individual award. As can be seen, it was a tough competition and this year there was the T20 World Cup too which pitched the world’s best cricketers against our very own. So why four Pakistanis were awarded the individual award and why they and three others included in the World XIs of the three formats, let’s have a look.

Babar Azam –

Men’s ODI Cricketer of the Year

Captain of Men’s ODI and T20I Teams of the Year

The Pakistan captain in all formats in 2021 was nominated for the ODI Cricketer of the Year, The other three cricketers with him were Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan, South Africa’s Janneman Malan and Paul Stirling of Ireland.

Shakib was considered the strongest contender due to his all-round performances and Malan for outstanding batting with an average of 84.83. Yet Babar beat both of them to the award. This despite Babar appearing in just six matches through the year, his least ever when fully fit and available.

Possibly what swung the award toward Babar even though he played just two series, was the quality of competition (South Africa and England) in their home conditions. His Player of the Match awards in two ODIs helped Pakistan win the series 2-1. In the first game, he was the architect of Pakistan’s chase to 274 with a fine hundred while in the series decider, his 94 off 82 balls outshone even a century from Fakhar Zaman as Pakistan rattled up a total of 320.

Though they lost 0-3 to England mid of that year, Babar totalled 177 runs in the series where no other batter managed to cross 100.

This included a cataclysmic 158, almost half the team score, in the final game at Edgbaston. He played through almost the entire innings, coming in to bat in the 5^th over and was out in the 50th. Cautious in his first 50 runs which took him 72 balls, Babar cut loose to reach the next 50 (and his 100) in mere 32 balls. The rest of his runs came off an additional 35 balls.

He was also named the captain of the team made up of some of the top performers around the world, to the surprise of the few as the Men-in-Green just won two of the six matches that he captained in 2021 in the 50-over format. This shows how much his perspicaciousness as a tactician was taken into account and the strength of the opposition he was facing.

Babar Azam ODIs in 2021

Mohammad Rizwan –

Men’s T20I Cricketer of the Year

Wicketkeeper of T20I Team of the Year

Nominated for Player of the Year

Pakistan’s wicketkeeper-batter who also opens the innings, Mohammad Rizwan was nominated for the T20 Cricketer of the Year along with the precocious Jos Buttler, another wicketkeeper-batter and two all-rounders — Wanindu Hasaranga of Sri Lanka and Australia’s Mitchell Marsh.

Rizwan returned to the Pakistan Test, ODI & T20Is in late 2019 and had a reasonable first 15 months in ODIs. In Tests, he performed better than even some of the specialist batters but it was in the T20 format where he started a resurgence and a self-discovery that astonished even his most ardent supporters.

In the very second year of his comeback, Rizwan hardly had a strike batting lower down the order and it was not until the last 3 T20Is played in New Zealand that he stepped up to open in the absence of injured Babar Azam.  That was the game-changer for him and Pakistan. Rizwan took on not just the powerplay with bold and innovative strokeplay, he also showed how he can be an emphatic finisher when in the third T20 he almost singlehandedly ensured an unthinkable win striking 89 off 59 balls.

That proved to be the perfect precursor for 2021, in which Rizwan blazed a trail of scores that few could match.  He aggregated an incredible 1326 runs at 73.67 with a strike rate of 134.89. In his 29 games for Pakistan, he had 24 dismissals as well behind the stumps.

Though he started the year with a 64-ball 104 but it was that innings against India in the opening game of the T20 World Cup that remains in the hearts of all Pakistanis. That unbeaten 79 off 55 balls spurred Pakistan to a 10-wicket win over arch-rivals.

Rizwan finished off the year spectacularly with an 87 off only 45 balls and with 12 half-centuries, more than any other batter in 2021. His national teammate, his captain and opening partner, Babar Azam came close with nine fifties. No other batter has ever scored more than eight in any calendar year. His strike rate throughout the year never once fell below 131.

In 202,1 Rizwan was also was named in the Men’s T20I Team of the Year as an opener and designated wicketkeeper ahead of Jos Buttler, also in the side. Besides this, Rizwan was also nominated for Player of the Year (which eventually went to fellow Pakistan pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi).

Mohammad Rizwan T20Is in 2021

Shaheen Shah Afridi – Winner Men’s Cricketer of the Year & selected for Men’s Test Team of the Year

A first for Pakistan was pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi winning the award for the best overall performer in men’s international cricket (Tests, ODIs and T20Is combined) during 2021. Aptly called the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for the ICC Player of the Year. No Pakistan player won this award before. Afridi had stiff competition from such icons and playing legends like Joe Root, Kane Williamson and from his national teammate Mohammad Rizwan.

To still win the award against two captains of the top teams, one of whom led his side to the title of the Test Championship and the other with over 1700 Test runs in a calendar year, was somewhat of a surprise. But his figures in all formats and his matchwinning spells bowled over the odds against him.

Among those, his first 2 overs in that game against India will live in the memory of all those who saw, and for posterity. Even a batting giant like Virat Kohli was in awe, saying, “He put our batsmen under pressure immediately with the new ball, and he ran in with intensity and showed that he’s bowling in consistent areas, so as batsmen you are forced to be a bit watchful.”

That describes his bowling, especially with the new ball, in all formats. His finest moment in Tests came at Sabina Park, Jamaica against West Indies. In a display of blistering bowling, Afridi took 6-51 and 4-43 to lead Pakistan to a big win after they had closely lost the first Test, in which he had also troubled the West Indians, taking 4 wickets in each innings.

In the ODIs he was slightly expensive but he still got the breakthroughs, especially in South Africa with 5 wickets in the 2 games that Pakistan won.

Overall, he took 78 wickets in 36 games in 2021, the first time since 1993 (Waqar Younis with 91) that a Pakistan pacer had taken more wickets than any bowler in a calendar year.

Shaheen Shah Afridi in Tests, ODIs & T20Is in 2021

Hasan Ali — Selected for Men’s Test Team of the Year

Two years ago, Hasan Ali’s return to any form of cricket was a big question mark. That he then stepped back into the field in late 2020 is a testament to not just his will and hard work. That he then immediately bowled and batted with such panache in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy final that the match was tied after a hopeless position for his team, shows his grit and resolve. That he has made it to the ICC Test Team of the year in the same year speaks of his talent and ability to hit the ground running.

Hasan deserves more credit because he is a hit-the-seam bowler who gets his wickets through the nip and bounce off the pitch. Considering that, he took his wickets on flatter tracks of Pakistan, Zimbabwe and Bangladesh. Though the latter may be weaker opposition, it has to be acknowledged that his best bowling came against the stronger South Africa side, who recently showed how difficult they are to play against in the recently concluded series against the top-ranked India team.

In the Rawalpindi Test, he claimed a 10-wicket haul with five wickets in both the first and second innings. And his wickets were impactful too, coming in bursts and breaking partnerships. He was twice on a hat-trick in the match and three of his victims went back to the pavilion after being dismissed on the first ball.

Then in Harare, he had figures of 4-53 and 5-36 to bowl Pakistan to a resounding win by an innings. He took five wickets again in the next innings in the second Test to make the home team follow on and watched with satisfaction as Afridi and Nauman completed the job.

His regular incisions into the West Indies and Bangladesh made sure that Pakistan won three of the next four Tests, though his fighting 28 from the last 33 added would have allowed Pakistan a win in the first Test. But then with just 19 more to win, the last man in West Indies’ second innings was dropped, ironically by Hasan, before West Indies scraped through and won by 1 wicket.

That, and the fateful drop in the T20 World Cup semi-final, has unfortunately made Hasan remembered for all the wrong reasons. His inclusion in the ICC Test Team of the Year should be the indicator that the Voting Academy still believe his contribution, especially in the Test side, holds much value.

Hasan Ali – Tests in 2021

Fawad Alam — Selected for Men’s Test Team of the Year

If there has ever been a face for never-say-die persistence, a portrait of Fawad Alam would be it.

A big century on Test debut, two more Tests after that and then banished for more than 10 years despite a Test average of over 40. A middle-order batter sent to open in his first two Tests on a turning pitch in Sri Lanka. The third Test on windy and green pitched New Zealand at No.3. A builder of innings brought back for ODI cricket in Asia Cup 2014, scoring 114 not out in the final following 74 in the match before that. Gone in white-ball cricket too by 2015.

When he was finally recalled in 2020 after maintaining a fist-class average of above 50 for several years, he marginally hung in there in England until a resolute, call it a tenacious century in New Zealand in December of that year. Like Rizwan, a platform on which to launch—rather throw in the face of past selectors — arguably the greatest comeback in Test cricket history. Certainly given the time he was out.

Fawad never looked back after that and 2021 remains his finest year in all cricket, given the quality of opposition he had to face compared to domestic cricket where he had achieved greatly in terms of runs and centuries per year.

He celebrated his first Test innings in Pakistan by scoring 109 against South Africa at Rawalpindi. Skip the next Test where he was run out for 45 and he garnered 140 against Zimbabwe in the first Test at Harare. Skip another Test where he batted once and he fetched 56 and 124 not out in the two Tests in West Indies, the second of which proved to be matchwinning. Then ending the year with an unbeaten half-century against Bangladesh in the only innings by Pakistan.

That amounted to a commendable batting average of 57.10 for the year that saw him score three hundreds and two half-centuries in only 9 Tests.

Fawad Alam – Tests in 2021

Fakhar Zaman — Selected for Men’s ODI Team of the Year

Ever since that stunning century against India in the Champions Trophy final in the summer of 2017, Fakhar Zamah has struggled to live up to the expectations. Technical glitches were exposed once coaches and analysts did their homework on him and he was in and out of the white-ball side. In 2020, he played a solitary ODI in which he was out for next to nothing.

As such 2021 was a make-or-break year for him. Alternates were circling around the opening slot. Fakhar had also not batted in any other position in ODIs as he had done in T20Is, where he was batting at No.3. This wasn’t available because of skipper Babar being there and doing well.

When he was out cheaply in the first ODI in South Africa, he walked back not knowing if he would get another game. When in the next game South Africa rattled up 341, the pressure on him became even more telling. By the end of the night, Fakhar would be a relieved man.

Though Pakistan lost, it was by a small margin, which also brought to light that had Fakhar’s partners got a few runs more, Pakistan could well have overhauled what the Proteas had posted. When he reached his first ODI hundred in two years, his first 50 had taken 70 deliveries and though he speeded up to reach his hundred consuming another 37 balls, Pakistan needed more from him. A target that Pakistan had never reached before, seemed to remain just that – unreachable – unless Fakhar was to come to the party.

That he did with the Proteas bowlers in total disarray on how to hold him down. He made his next 50 runs in just 21 balls; that segment included six 6s. Another 26 balls and he’d got 43 more before losing his wicket, courtesy gamesmanship by wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock – fooling Fakhar to think the ball was going to the bowler’s end as he was returning for the second.

He was the last man out with 5 balls and 17 runs left. What hurt was that even if getting the 17 was less probable, he could well have got to his double hundred. Nevertheless, it was already the highest score by any batter batting second in an ODI.

Fakhar would get back at the injustice with another hundred in the next game. And though he didn’t cross 50 in the next 3 ODIs Pakistan played in the year, these two innings propelled him into the ICC ODI Team of the Year.

Fakhar Zaman – ODIs in 2021

Fatima Sana – Winner Emerging Women’s Cricketer of the Year & Nominated for  Women’s ODI Cricketer of the Year

Though Fatima Sana had debuted for Pakistan in 2019 but her appearances were restricted and it was in 2021 that she really got her calling (no pun intended). She took her opportunities with both hands, and with both bat and ball, especially against West Indies.

The 20-year old accomplished what several seniors before her could not in their first few years. Even though nominated for Women’s ODI cricketer of the Year – a huge honour considering she was competing with Tammy Beaumont, Lizelle Lee and Hayley Matthews – Sana was awarded the Emerging Women’s Cricketer of the Year.

After all, combining both formats of white-ball cricket, Sana took 24 wickets at an average of 23.95 and scored 165 runs at 16.50 in 16 international matches in 2021.

She took 18 of those 24 wickets in the 11 matches against the West Indies, against batters that attacked her relentlessly in those games. Batting lower down the order, she nevertheless fetched scores of 28*, 22* and 17* against West Indies, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

Her finest hour came in the summer of 2021 against West Indies when she took her first ‘fifer’ and scored that 28 not out enabling Pakistan to win by 22 runs.

This was the first time that a woman cricketer from Pakistan had won an ICC award.

Fatima Sana ODIs in 2021 – Batting

Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Avg	BF	SR	100s	50s	0s	4s	6s
13	13	4	132	28*	14.66	176	75.00	0	0	1	11	1

Fatima Sana ODIs in 2021 – Bowling

Fatima Sana T20I in 2021 – Batting

Fatima Sana T20I in 2021 – Bowling

Yes, a great year for Pakistan. But a benchmark now for current and future cricketers from this country, denied playing in their own land for years. Celebrating the coming home of cricket by sweeping the ICC awards. A new year beckons. Take guard now, shine that ball and carry on ladies and gentleman in green.