Owais Shah

An unorthodox stroke maker in the middle-order, Owais Shah is a Pakistani-born former English cricketer. A stylish yet classical type of batsman with abundant talent, he was considered a prodigy right from his teenage days. Shah was touted as the new Mark Ramprakash when he made his county debut at the tender age of 17 in 1996.

An incredible 2001 Championship season where he plundered 1040 runs earned him his maiden callup to the national squad. Shah was called up to the England squad for the 2001 NatWest series featuring Australia and Pakistan. Even a strong 62 against Pakistan in his second ODI was not enough for Owais Shah to cement his place.

Following a string of poor results and scores, Owais Shah was stripped of the vice-captaincy of his county in 2004. He bounced back to form in 2005 when he scored 1728 runs in the county season at an average of 66.46. This led to the addition of Shah to the Test squad against India following injuries to Michael Vaughan and Marcus Trescothick, Shah made 88 on his debut in Mumbai to help secure a historic win and draw the series.

Shah helped Middlesex win the Twenty20 Cup in 2008 with a 35-ball 75 that set up victory over Kent in the final and was named ‘Ace’ by his Middlesex teammates. Shah scored his maiden international century and took his first wicket in the 2007 World Cup in a thrilling match against India which England lost due to the heroics of Robin Uthappa. 

Shah’s name has appeared on the squad list of three teams, Delhi Capitals, Kolkata Knight Riders, and Kochi Tuskers Kerala in the Indian Premier League. He scored 340 runs from 13 games in his first season with Rajasthan Royals leading them to the title in the inaugural edition of the IPL.

Owais retired from first-class and international cricket at the end of the 2013 season to concentrate on limited-overs formats and become a T20 specialist. He then went on to represent Hobart Hurricanes in the Big Bash League(BBL) and became more of a freelance cricketer in the shortest format.

(As of May 2021)