PCB honours Babar Azam’s Pakistan with incentives during a ceremony in Lahore

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), on Friday, January 14, rewarded its players in a ceremony named ‘PCB Honours Its Heroes and Stars’ that took place at the Far-end building of the iconic Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. As per reports, even as the players received a cash prize of PKR 15,000,00, the support staff got amounts in between PKR 2,00,000 to PKR 10,000,00.

Ramiz Raja, the newly-appointed chairman of the PCB, gave away the prizes to the cricketers and the support personnel. Apart from the ones, who took part in the T20 World Cup in Oman and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the PCB also invited top-order batter Abid Ali and off-spinner Sajid Khan.

Prior to the event, the PCB chairman also met the cricketers at the National High-Performance Centre (NHPC).

Beating India was our best moment of the year, says Babar Azam

Back in October-November, Pakistan took part in the T20 World Cup where they won five matches in a row in the Super 12. After beating India by 10 wickets, they defeated New Zealand, Afghanistan, Namibia, and Scotland with relative ease.

The mega event also witnessed the first instance when Pakistan defeated India in a World Cup match across all formats. Babar Azam, their skipper, oozed pride following the win at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on a Sunday.

“It was a fantastic achievement for us as a team because we had not been able to beat India in the World Cups for so many years. It was our best moment of the year,” Babar was quoted as saying in a PCB podcast.

After staying unbeaten in the Super 12, Pakistan lost to Australia in the semi-final in Dubai itself. Matthew Wade’s blitzkrieg in the death overs turned out to be too hot to handle for the Men in Green. For Babar, the defeat was hurtful, but he was happy to see youngsters coming up the ranks.

“That defeat hurt me the most this year because we had been playing so well and as a combined unit,” he stated.

“The biggest satisfaction was seeing young talent come through for us at crucial times. It is good we are now producing young talent,” he added.