Pakistan captain Babar Azam on Thursday became the youngest cricketer to be conferred with the country’s third-highest civilian award Sitara-e-Imtiaz.  

Pakistan’s all-format captain Babar was conferred with the award by Governor Baligh Ur Rehman at an investiture ceremony held at the Punjab Governor House as part of Pakistan Day celebrations.

With the conferment of the award, Babar has become the youngest cricketer to be awarded Sitara-e-Imtiaz at the age of 28 for his outstanding achievements in the field of sports.

The skipper called it an “immense honour” to receives the award in the presence of his parrents.

“This award is for my parents, fans and the people of Pakistan,” he tweeted. 

Previously, Babar’s predecessor Sarfaraz Ahmed held the record as the youngest cricketer to be awarded the Sitara-e-Imtiaz.

Sarfaraz, who led Pakistan to the Champions Trophy title in 2017, was conferred with the award by then Sindh governor Mohammad Zubair at the Governor House in Karachi in 2018.

Last year on August 14, the government announced that it will be conferring Babar with the country’s third-highest civilian honour.

Babar made his debut in international cricket in May 2015 against Zimbabwe. His performances eventually led debuts to T20Is and Tests in 2016. 

In 47 Tests, Babar has scored 3,696 runs with an average of 48.63, while in 95 ODI’s Babar has scored 4,813 runs at an average of 59.41. In 99 T20Is, Babar has amassed 3,355 runs at an average of 41.41. 

Babar, in his ongoing cricket career, has won multiple 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 finals of the last T20 world cup.     

Apart from Babar and Sarfaraz other cricketers that have received the award include Misbah-ul-Haq, Younis Khan, and Shahid Afridi for their outstanding contributions.

While Mohammad Yousuf received the award in 2011, Saeed Ajmal in 2015, Inzamam ul Haq in 2005 and Javed Miandad in 1992.

In the 24th fixture of the eighth edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) at the Pindi Cricket Stadium in Rawalpindi, Islamabad United have won the toss and opted to bowl against Multan Sultans.

At the moment, United are in the second spot on the points table with 10 points, having lost only two of the seven matches they have played during the tournament so far.

The Sultans, with eight points, rank at number three — having won four of the seven matches they have played so far.

Playing XIs

Multan Sultans: Mohammad Rizwan (c), Shan Masood, Rilee Rossouw, David Miller, Tim David, Kieron Pollard, Anwar Ali, Usama Mir, Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Ilyas, Ihsanullah

Islamabad United: Alex Hales, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Colin Munro, Shadab Khan (c), Azam Khan, Asif Ali, Faheem Ashraf, Mubasir Khan, Rumman Raees, Mohammad Wasim Jr, Fazalhaq Farooqi

Renowned Pakistani film and television actor Hamza Ali Abbasi is all set to stage his come-back on the tv screen with upcoming drama serial “Jaan-e-Jahan”, the actor announced on Tuesday. 

Abbasi informed his followers regarding his return to the TV screen on his official Instagram handle by sharing a teaser of an upcoming project.

He wrote in his post: “Happy to introduce you to the captivating world of our upcoming project Jaan-e-Jahan written by Rida Bilal, directed by Qasim Ali Mureed,”.

He further wrote that “the drama is produced by Samina Humayun Saeed and Sana Shahnawaz coming soon on a TV screen near you.”

The actor has showcased his acting talent in many well-known dramas before but had announced his decision to withdraw from the showbiz industry over a year ago to devote more of his time to religion.

The actor’s last performance as Noori Natt in Bilal Lashari’s ‘The Legend of Maula Jatt‘, one of Pakistan’s highest-grossing films of all time, had his fans gripped to the screen. He had starred alongside Fawad Khan and Mahira Khan in Lashari’s magnum opus.

In an exclusive interview with Geo TV earlier, Abbasi had spoken of his role in “The Legend Maula Jatt” project that was touted as the game-changer and saviour of Pakistani cinema while dishing on the challenges he faced in the process of transforming into the barbaric Noori Natt.

“It takes a lot of guts to handle the kind of pressure that comes with such projects but you eventually get the courage to deal with it,” Abbasi had said.

Abbasi had further added that if one chooses to do such projects then they must ‘learn to tackle the challenges that come with it’ while adding: “As for us; me and Bilal [Lashari], we have become immune to it now.”