Pakistan captain Babar Azam on Thursday became the youngest cricketer to be honored with the country’s third-highest civilian award, Sitara-e-Imtiaz.
Babar, Pakistan’s all-format captain, was presented with the award by Governor Balighur Rehman at a function held at the Governor’s House as part of the Pakistan Day celebrations.
With this honour, Babar at the age of 28 has become the youngest cricketer to be awarded Sitara-e-Imtiaz for outstanding achievements in the field of sports.
Immense honour to have received Sitara-e-Imtiaz in the presence of my mother and father.
— Babar Azam (@babarazam258) March 23, 2023
This award is for my parents, fans and the people of 🇵🇰 pic.twitter.com/Gafwlu3rUC
The captain described receiving the award in the presence of his parents as a “huge honour”.
He tweeted that this award is for my parents, fans and people of Pakistan.
Earlier, Babar’s predecessor Sarfraz Ahmed held the record of being the youngest cricketer to be awarded Sitara-e-Imtiaz.
Sarfraz, who led Pakistan to the Champions Trophy title in 2017, was presented with the award by then Sindh Governor Muhammad Zubair at the Governor House in Karachi in 2018.
On August 14 last year, the government had announced that it would confer Babur with the country’s third highest civilian honour.
Babar made his international debut in May 2015 against Zimbabwe. His performance finally led to his T20 and Test debut in 2016.
Babar has scored 3,696 runs at an average of 48.63 in 47 Test matches while Babar has scored 4,813 runs at an average of 59.41 in 95 ODIs. In 99 T20Is, Babar has scored 3,355 runs at an average of 41.41.
Babar, in his ongoing cricket career, has won numerous awards including ICC Men’s ODI Player of the Year, Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy. Under his captaincy, Pakistan defeated India for the first time in a World Cup match and also reached the final of the last T20 World Cup.
Apart from Babar and Sarfraz, other cricketers who have received this award include Misbah-ul-Haq, Younis Khan and Shahid Afridi.
While Mohammad Yousuf received the award in 2011, Saeed Ajmal in 2015, Inzamam-ul-Haq in 2005 and Javed Miandad in 1992.
