2 Captains named for All Star Weekend !
Captaining our All Star teams is a tough task, as the students & alumni come from different colleges & parts of the country, and the Captains might not have seen many play – so it’s a real test of managing players, their skillsets and strategy on the run.
The Captains of the 2 American College Cricket All Star Teams which will play each other this All Star Weekend, Nov 20 & 21 at Moosa Stadium are Neel Patel (South Alabama) and Abdul Khuram (George Washington).
Neel was our All Star Captain at the last All Star Series in 2019 before Lockdown vs Canadian College Cricket when he led the team to a 3-0 Series win. Opening the batting he scored 60, 72* and 47 run out ! In 2018 he led U of South Alabama to the Final of the National Championship, being 2nd in Batting including 104 and 2 Fifties. Neel completed his Master’s, like his 1st degree, at South Alabama.
Aditya Sen (UF) was a team mate of Mohammed Siraj, the India pacer, just a few years ago before injury curtailed his professional career. One of our Gator club’s finest leaders and player, he continued to assist the club as an alumni, will be Neel’s Vice Captain.An all rounder Aditya has also been our Host on SONY at Nationals.
Abdul was Club President and Captain at George Washington U from 2014 to 2018, leading the team to the Final of a strong Mid Atlantic Championship in 2017, and making it to the National Championship 4 times. Abdul was also selected for the Mid Atlantic All Star team in 2016. Outside of college Abdul then started Bolts Cricket Club with friends, and plays in WMCB league.Abdul got his degree in Bio Medical Engineering, and is now in Med School at VCOM- Virginia – Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine.
Rahul Gurajala (West Virginia) one of 2019’s top allrounders who played a huge role in West Virginia winning the National Championship will be Abdul’s Vice Captain. At 2019 Nationals Rahul scored 3 Fifties and took 8 wickets. He also took 6 catches as a wicket keeper. Like Jasprit Bumrah he generates tremendous pace off a few steps “runup”.
