Kail, Shakeel win Premier awards as cricket season comes to an end

A Division T20 League, Knockout finals called off

By Shahzad Raza

MUSCAT: Super bat Kail Khalid of Al Turki NMC was adjudged best batsman while left arm spinner Shakeel Ahmad of IT Works bagged the best bowler award as Oman Cricket (OC) drew curtains on 2020-21 season after Supreme Committee on Covid-19 suspended sports activities last month, the second time in a year, due to rise in Corona virus cases in the country.

Before announcing the season’s toppers, OC called off the A Division’s T20 League as well as the Ramadan T10 Bash Softball Tournament. The game’s governing body in Oman also called off senior and junior knockout finals, declaring Orient Travels and Maniz Azad as joint winners of the Senior Cup. Aflag Group and Pitspot were announced joint winners of the Junior Cup.

Kail Khalid had phenomenal success with the bat, scoring 526 runs in 9 games at an amazing average of 75.1. Kail also struck three hundreds and a fifty for Al Turki.

Shakeel’s golden arm not only won games for IT Works but fetch him 20 wickets at an incredible average of 9.1 and economy rate of only 2.5 runs per over.

Former Oman star Zeeshan Ahmed Siddiqui, who was instrumental in ARTT winning the A Division title, won the best batsman award, scoring 323 runs in six matches at an excellent average of 80.8. His aggregate included three half centuries.

Best bowler award also went to an ARTT player as Aqil Khan claimed the award for taking 21 wickets in 7 games at an unbelievable average of 8.2, taking five wickets in a game twice this season.

B Division’s best batsman Arif Hussain of Orient Travels/Gitacs was the highest scorer in a single tournament, scoring 604 runs at an amazing average of 100.7 and outstanding strike rate of 154.9. Arif’s super season included 3 centuries and 2 fifties. He also picked up 13 wickets for his side. Naushad Haneefa of LC Tech claimed the best bowler prize for taking 17 wickets in 5 games at a highly impressive average of 9.1.

D Division’s top performer Rahul Chadha of Vanderlande won a dream double for his exploits with bat and ball, claiming the D Division’s best bowler and best all-rounder awards. He was very impressive with the ball, taking 14 wickets in 7 matches at 9.4 and scoring 271 runs at an average of 45.2.

Many Omani players made their presence felt during the season, especially star all-rounder Shoaib Ismail who did well playing for two teams – OCT Ruwi and Maniz Azad. He was adjudged best all-rounder for scoring 204 runs in 7 games for OCT Ruwi and taking 10 wickets. His exploits for Maniz Azad included 170 runs in 4 matches at an average of 56.7 and 9 wickets at an outstanding average of 9.4.

Rafeeq Mohammed (OCT Al Nahdha and Orient Travels) and Zubair Ali Akbar (OCT Ruwi and Y Horizon) won awards for best batsman and best bowler respectively in a category of an Omani national playing for two teams.

Other award-winning Omani nationals playing for one team included OCT Al Hail B’s Khalid Rahim (best batsman), Samir Faizu of OCT Al Hail B (best bowler) and best all-rounders Warith Al Balushi of OCT Mabela and Suhaib Abdul Ghani of OCT Al Hail A.  

Here is the list of team and individual toppers of season 2020-21:

OC DOMESTIC SEASON 2020-21 INDIVIDUAL TOPPERS