Owais Shah is a middle-order batsman for England who was born in Karachi, Pakistan. He was ear-marked as a prodigy at the start of his career but he has struggled to cement his place in the England team.

Shah started his cricketing career by playing for the Wycombe House cricket club. He was a prolific run-getter for the club where he smashed several records. He made his first-class debut for Middlesex at the age of 17 in 1996 and there was a lot of excitement generated. A solid performance in the 1997 season earned him the Denis Compton award for the most promising young player performance.

During that year, he was selected as captain of the England U-19 team that toured South Africa and he led them to victory. Many observers had ear-marked him for greatness following his heavy run-scoring. However, he suffered a dip in form for two seasons and by the year 2000, he was not a regular member of the county.

He got his form back in the 2001 season when he averaged 40 plus for Middlesex. He was called up to the England squad for the 2001 Natwest series featuring Australia and Pakistan. A strong 62 against Pakistan was not enough for Shah to cement his place. Following a string of poor results and scores, Shah was stripped of the vice-captaincy of his county in 2004. However, he roared back to form in 2005 when he scored 1728 runs in the season at an average of 66.46.

A Test debut followed against India in Mumbai in March 2006. He played a vital innings on a difficult pitch as he stroked a gritty 88 to lead England to victory by 212 runs. He performed consistently in the T20s and the ODI series against the West Indies. He scored his maiden ODI century came against India in the 5th ODI at the Oval in September 2007, when he scored 107 off just 95 balls. His effort went in vain as India won the match by two wickets.

In the second edition of the IPL, Owais Shah was snapped up by the Delhi Daredevils for a price of USD 275000 during the second player auction. He replaced Moises Henriques in the Kolkata Knight Riders team. During the fourth edition of the IPL, he was bought by the Kochi Tuskers for a price of USD 200000. In IPL 5 he represented the Rajasthan Royals after Kochi was expelled from the tournament.

His inability to maintain his place in the team continued to hurt Shah. During that time, he blasted a brilliant 98 off just 89 balls in the Champions Trophy match against South Africa in September 2009 that led England to victory. After a poor 2009 ODI series against Australia, he was dropped from the England team. He suffered a further setback in 2010 when it was announced that Middlesex were not renewing his contract. On the recommendation of his former Middlesex teammate and NZ skipper Stephen Fleming, Shah was selected to play for the Wellington Firebirds in the domestic T20 competition for the 2009 season.

He is currently contracted to play for Essex. With the emergence of young talent in the England team, Shah has an uphill task to make a comeback into the team. He has become a bit of a T20 agent and is wanted across the globe and is seen in many tournaments. He plays for the Hobart Hurricanes in the Big Bash League since 2011, which he represents South African franchise Cape Cobras since 2010.

Fun facts: Owais Shah holds the bat handle very tightly while batting and that leads to strangulation in his palm, due to which, he suffers from cramps on a regular basis.

By Siddharth Vishwanathan