MUSCAT: Oman Cricket (OC) continues to make big strides on and off the pitch. While the national team is getting ready to compete in the ICC T20 World Cup this June in the tournament, co-hosted by West Indies and the USA, the national governing body, is also gearing to host two major Asian Cricket Council (ACC) tournaments in 2024.
The revelation of Oman scheduled to host two major continental events was made by Oman Cricket Chairman Pankaj Khimji at the OC annual awards ceremony (2021-22 and 2022-23) held at the Oman Cricket Academy grounds recently.
Addressing Oman’s cricket fraternity at the ceremony that included chief guest, Muhammad bin Basheer Al Jarf, Chairman of Omantel, Basil bin Ahmed Al Rawas, Undersecretary at the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth, star performers of two seasons, various division winners, dignitaries, OC board members and players, Khimji said: “Oman Cricket has made big strides and is moving in the right direction. Over the past three years, the national team has won laurels for the Sultanate of Oman and domestic cricket has also seen great advancement as technology is being used to broadcast T10 and T20 domestic matches.
“I am proud of the achievements we have made in the past three years. We promise to continue to fly Oman's flag high at the international stage. We will be hosting two ACC tournaments this year, with one of them to be the biggest ever staged by Oman towards the end of the year.”
The OC boss said that further details of the ACC events will be announced in future.
Khimji shed light on the progress made by the national team over the past three years and said that the awards ceremony, which is an annual feature, couldn’t be held due to the pandemic.
“Our quality of cricket is growing and the performance of the national team has been exceptional. Our organisational abilities were put to test twice and we came out with flying colours. Firstly, we set up the world-class facilities for the ICC T20 World Cup in 2021 in just 91 days. We continue to upgrade our facilities to top-level standards.
“Seconly, we were handed the project to set up the infrastructure facility for Oman Hockey Association (OHA) which successfully hosted the Paris 2024 Olympic Qualifiers recently and are now currently hosting the inaugural FIH Hockey5s World Cup Oman 2024. We put up the facility in just five months and the arena has been widely appreciated by the participating teams and FIH officials. I thank project head, Damodar Katti, and others related to project for successful completion of both the projects.”
Khimji had words of praise for national team captain Zeeshan Maqsood and pace bowler Bilal Khan and said: “I am proud of the them, national team, and the support staff that has brought excellent results under the guidance of chief coach Duleep Mendis”
The OC boss singled out Oman chief curator Anoop Kandy and head of umpiring committee Rahul Asher for praise for their excellent roles in their respective capacity.
Khimji said that OC is running pilot projects in Omani and international schools and they have now a pool of nearly 700 students who are playing the game.
Earlier, Mendis, who is also OC chief development officer, said: “We witnessed 56 senior teams, 28 junior teams and five women’s teams in the 2021-22 season and 65 senior teams, 44 Junior teams and five women’s teams in the 2022-23 season.We also successfully broadcasted the Premier Division in T20 and T10 format since 2021 across the globe and have proudly attained 3 million+ viewership in every season. We are striving towards broadcasting the 50-over format in the coming season.”
Mendis also spoke about the national team campaign from 2021 to the team’s qualification to the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 and Oman’s title win in the inaugural GCC T20 Cricket Championship held in Qatar in September 2023. Oman will compete in the T20 World Cup for the third time when it competes in the 2024 T20 World Cup.
At the T20 World Cup, Oman are clubbed along Australia, England, Namibia and Scotland in the mega-event that is projected to engage 5 billion plus viewership across the globe.
On this occasion, Paul Sheridan, Oman Cricket vice-chairman, also spoke about the board's activities and the progress of the game in Oman.
At the awards ceremony, Shoaib Khan and Kashyap Prajapati of Muscat CT were adjudged the Most Valuable Player (MVP) cricketers in the top-flight Premier Division for the past two seasons.
Shoaib was declared winner of 2021-22 season and Prajapati claimed the top honours for the 2022-23 season.
Oman Cricket also presented a token of appreciation and thanked the support of it’s sponsors - Omantel, Oman LNG, Omifco, Jindal Steel, Sohar Port and Freezone, Sohar International, Sohar Aluminium, Mazoon Dairy, Purshottan Kanji, Stassen Tea, Apollo Hospitals, Majees Techincal Services LLC, Khimji Ramdas, Muscat Pharmacy, Al Ansari, Credit Oman and AutoRent.
OC also acknowledged the contribution of the local media and felicitated - Times of Oman, Al Shabiba, The Arabian Stories, Muscat Daily, Oman Daily, Oman Observer, Al Watan and the Oman News Agency.
On the occasion, OC’s long-serving secretary Madhu Jesrani was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award, which was received by his daughter and OC board advisor Vaishali Jesrani due to former's health issues.
OC also honoured Rahul Asher, Vinod Babu, Harikrishna for their contribution to umpiring and Anoop Kandy as chief curator.
Awardees: Cricketer of the Year 2021: Shoaib Khan.
Cricketer of the Year 2022: Kashyap Prajapati.
Season 2021-22: Winners: Premier Division: Oman Stallions, A Division: Zawawi Powertech, B Division: Douglas OHI, C Division: Ideal International, D Division: Ideal Technology, E Division: Israr Ghala, F Division: Earn Trust, U19: Oman Cricket Academy U19.
Individual awards: Premier Division: Best Batter: Shoaib Khan, Best Bowler: Khawar Ali, Best All-Rounder: Aamir Kaleem.
Season 2022-23: Winners: Premier Division: Muscat CT, A Division: Fagor FCC, B Division: Vanderlande, C Division: Khalsa United CT, D Division: Israr Ghala, E Division: Earn Trust, F Division: Skill Vision & NTS CT, G Division: Abeer Warriors, U19: Indian School Muscat.
Individual awards: Premier Division: Best Batter: Kashyap Prajapati, Best Bowler: Hemal Tandel, Best All-Rounder: Ayaan Khan.
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