Sunday 02 / February / 2025
Muscat: The second edition of Oman Cricket’s Oman D50 concluded on Friday. The 19-day extravaganza of top-quality cricket played between the 6 premier division teams saw Yalla Shabab Giants beat Royal Oman Stallions by 6 wickets to lift the coveted trophy at the Oman Cricket Academy Ground.
The Yalla Shabab Giants , owned by Chaitanya Khimji, won the title finishing second in the league stage below Royal Oman Stallions who won 5 out of 5 in the league. The tournament was played in a single round-robin format followed by the top two locking horns for the Final.
Winning the toss and playing to their strengths, Yalla Shabab Giants (YSG) elected to bowl first. They started strong in the powerplay picking the top four of Royal Oman Stallions (ROS) within 15 overs. Small partnerships and Usman Ali Afridi’s 31 off 26 guided ROS’s total to a paltry 107.
In the 2nd innings, early strikes led by Hassnain Ali Shah put YSG on the backfoot but a 68-run partnership between Sanju Sajeev and Gowtham Sagar ensured they sail through without much turbulence to lift the trophy.
Mr. Duleep Mendis, Head Coach and CDO – Oman Cricket reflecting on the tournament said, “ It was an excellent competition between six of the most competitive sides in Oman. We saw majority of the matches played through the 50-overs which displays top-notch batsmanship from the teams and our excellence in providing excellent tracks for quality cricket. We would congratulate the players and management of Yalla Shabab and Oman Stallions for claiming the Champions and Runners-Up berth. This tournament also served as an apt-preparation for the national pool of players for our upcoming ICC CWC League 2 starting early February between USA and Namibia.”
In the closing ceremony, Sanju Sajeev was handed the Player of the Match while Jatinder Singh of Muscat CT was adjudged Player of the Tournament for his record-breaking 522 runs in 5 matches consisting a double-hundred and two hundreds. Mr. Kiran Asher, Board Member – Oman Cricket along with Mr. Duleep Mendis presented the awards to the individuals and the teams.
Brief Scores: Royal Oman Stallions 107/10 in 34.3 overs (Usman Ali Afridi 31(26) , Faisal Shah 3/22) lost to Yalla Shabab Giants 108/4 in 24.1 overs (Sanju Sajeev 48(59); Hassnain Ali Shah 2/34)
