Misbah-ul-Haq wins big in the PCB award ceremony at Lahore

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) hosted its annual awards ceremony in Lahore on September 14. The mega event was organised by the PCB to felicitate and honour the contributions of the Pakistani cricketers in the year. Former Pakistan Test captain Misbah-ul-Haq was the one to be honoured with two major awards, accompanied with a cheque of Rs 10 million and a seat on the PCB Board of Governors. Along with Misbah, other Pakistani cricketers were also awarded for their contributions to the rich success of Pakistan cricket in the past year.

The award ceremony also lured in Cricket West Indies President Dave Cameron. The awards were presented to the national players in the presence of the World XI led by Faf du Plessis, sports giants, singers, entertainers together with some of the mimics and some former Pakistani cricketers. Misbah was awarded the “Spirit of the Game” and “Lifetime Achievement” awards. The former leader of Pakistan team got a bit emotional after receiving the prestigious awards and thanked the PCB and all his family member for supporting him throughout his cricketing career.

Young talent awarded

Along with Misbah, left-arm spinner Imad Wasim bagged the Best T20 player award from Windies’ two-time World T20 champion skipper Darren Sammy. Imad is currently the No. 1 ranked T20 bowler in the ICC rankings. Fast bowler Hasan Ali and young leggie Shadab Khan were presented the Emerging Talent awards by Misbah and speedster Shoaib Akhtar.

Another leg-spinner Yasir Shah and batsman Babar Azam received the Test cricketer and ODI cricketer of the year awards respectively at the gala night. Pakistan’s ICC Champions Trophy winning skipper, Sarfraz Ahmed was also awarded as the Outstanding Player of the Year award.

We missed them

The two big names of Pakistani cricket- all-rounder Shahid Afridi and all-time batting great Younis Khan were the ones who were not present at the award ceremony. PCB chairman Najam Sethi stated that the board wanted to honour the two experienced cricketers. “PCB wanted to honour them also under this roof but I don’t understand what mistake the PCB has made that they are not here today,” said Sethi.

Here is the list of all the awards and the winners:

Lifetime Achievement Award- Misbah-ul-Haq

Spirit of the Game Award- Misbah-ul-Haq

Emerging Talent Award- Hasan Ali and Shadab Khan

T20 Cricketer of the Year- Imad Wasim

ODI Cricketer of the Year- Babar Azam

Test Cricketer of the Year- Yasir Shah

Outstanding Player of the Year- Sarfraz Ahmed