Babar Azam is the first player to win the Player of the Month award twice

 Pakistan cricket team captain Babar Azam has been named the best player of the month by the International Cricket Council (ICC).

A statement from the ICC on Monday said that Pakistan captain Babar Azam and Australian women's team opener Rachel Heinz have been named "Player of the Month" for the month of March.

Babar Azam has become the first player in the world to win this award twice in his career. Earlier in the year 2021, in the month of April, he has been declared the 'Player of the Month'.

In a statement, the ICC mentioned Babar Azam's performance in the recent series against Australia and termed his 196-run innings in the Karachi Test as the best performance.

In the Benawa Qadir Trophy between Pakistan and Australia, Babar Azam was the third highest run scorer after Australian Usman Khawaja and Pakistani opener Abdullah Shafiq.

On the other hand, the reason for declaring Australian female player Rachel Haynes as 'Player of the Month' is because of her excellent performance in the 2022 World Cup.

She scored 429 runs in eight matches at an average of 61.28 in the 2022 World Cup and was Australia's leading run-scorer in this mega event.