Four cricketers awarded Sitara-e-Imtiaz on Pakistan Day

ISLAMABAD: President of Pakistan Mamnoon Hussain presented the Pakistan Civil Awards at the President’s House in Islamabad whereas governors of the provinces gave away the awards at the Governor Houses at respective Provincial capitals on the eve of Pakistan Day on Friday.

The civil awards were conferred on 152 personalities for displaying excellence in various fields.

Among them, four outstanding cricketers have also been awarded Sitara-e-Imtiaz, the third highest civil award of the country. They were former captains Misbah-ul-Haq, Younis Khan and Shahid Afridi, and present captain Sarfraz Ahmed.

Before them, only four cricketers had received the Sitara-e-Imtiaz for their services towards the game: Javed Miandad in 1992, Inzamam ul Haq in 2005, Mohammad Yousuf in 2011, and Saeed Ajmal in 2015.

Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed became the youngest Pakistani cricketer to receive the award. He led Pakistan to the Champions Trophy title last year and later was appointed captain of the national team in all formats of the game. He was conferred with the award by Governor Sindh Mohammad Zubair at the Governor House in Karachi.

Former captain Younis Khan was also awarded the Sitara-e-Imtiaz earlier today as nation celebrated Pakistan Day. He earned Pakistan the Twenty20 World Cup in 2009 while Shahid Afridi has been popular all over the world for his aggressive allround performances.

Misbah-ul-Haq led the Pakistan Test team to possess world top ranking for the first time in the history of cricket.