KARACHI (Monitoring Desk): Pakistan pacer Hasan Ali was named the Emerging Player of the Year as part of the ICC Awards 2017 on Thursday while the national team’s famous Champion Trophy triumph was voted by fans as the Moment of the Year.
Twenty-three-year-old Hasan, the top-ranked ODI bowler, took 48 wickets in 21 matches during calendar year 2017 at an average of just 17.70 per dismissal. He also claimed three five-wicket hauls and played a massive role in Pakistan’s Champions Trophy win in England — making him a shoo-in for the emerging player gong.
“Last year was incredible, both for me individually as well as my team,” said Hasan in a PCB video. “I feel very proud. These awards motivate us and spur us to do even better.”
Pakistan’s historical Champions Trophy win of 2017, when they defeated arch-rivals India in a thrilling final, was voted by fans as the Moment of the Year. But the biggest winner of the awards was India captain Virat Kohli, who walked away with twin awards: ODI Cricketer of the Year and the Cricketer of the Year the former being the second such win of his glittering career.
Kohli’s win, however, comes as little surprise as in 2017 as he had amassed 1,818 runs in just 31 ODIs at a staggering average of 82.63. He staved off competition from Hasan, Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan and his teammate Rohit Sharma.
Australia’s Steve Smith was named the ICC Test Cricketer of the Year — another title win which was a given considering the Baggy Greens skipper, per ICC website, had piled up “1,875 runs at an average of 78.12, with eight hundreds and five half-centuries” between “the qualification period from 21 September 2016 until the end of December 2017”.
Indian Yuzvendra Chahal’s 6-25 against England was chosen as the T20I Performance of the Year, Afghan leggie Rashid the Associate Cricketer of the Year and South African Marais Erasmus the Umpire of the Year.
The Test Team of the Year has no Pakistani representatives, although the ODI line-up does feature Hasan as well as middle-order batsman Babar Azam whose willow yielded 1,232 runs in 21 matches at an average of 77.00 during 2017.
ODI Team of the Year: David Warner, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Babar Azam, AB de Villiers, Quinton de Kock, Ben Stokes, Trent Boult, Hasan Ali, Rashid Khan, Jasprit Bumrah.
Test Team of the Year: Dean Elgar, David Warner, Virat Kohli, Steve Smith, Cheteshwar Pujara, Quinton de Kock, Ben Stokes, Ashwin Ravichandran, Mitchell Starc, Kagiso Rabada, James Anderson.
