One of the newcomers in the UAE national team, Basil Hameed is a cautious middle-order batsman who left India and moved to UAE for a better livelihood. After representing Kerela in U-13s to U-25s, Hameed was on the verge of playing Ranji Trophy cricket for his native Kerala before taking up an opportunity to dovetail work and cricket in Dubai six years ago. On the back of an impressive domestic season, the 29-year old made his ODI debut against the USA on December 8th, 2019. In just his third international appearance for UAE, the Kozhikode-born batter went on to hit an unbeaten 63 to ensure a 7-wicket victory over Scotland and earned the Man of the Match award. A year later, he made his T20I debut against Iran in February and since then he has proved to be a vital cog in UAE’s limited-overs side. Named in the ten cricketers to be awarded a central contract in December 2020, Hameed would be hoping to make the most of this opportunity to earn a permanent spot in UAE’s playing XI. (As of September 2021)
