Babar Azam conferred with Sitara-e-Imtiaz

Pakistan all-format captain Babar Azam was conferred with the country's third-highest civilian award, Sitara-e-Imtiaz, on Thursday (today) in Lahore.

With the conferment of the award, Babar became the youngest person to be awarded Sitara-e-Imtiaz at the age of 28 for his outstanding achievements in the field of cricket.

Previously, former captain Sarfaraz Ahmed held the record as the youngest person to be awarded the prestigious award.

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.

The star batter took a break from cricket to attend the ceremony, as he will not be participating in the series against Afghanistan, which is scheduled to start on March 24.

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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.

Earlier this year, Azam had bagged the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for the ICC Men's Cricketer of 2022. Azam was also named captain of the ICC ODI Team of the Year. Meanwhile, he also clinched the award for ICC ODI Player of the Year.

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