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Collegiate Cricket League Announces 2025–26 Season Honors and Inaugural All-American Class
When the Collegiate Cricket League® entered its second season, the competition was already growing beyond its first year. The league now includes 50 universities and more than 750 student-athletes, while more than 525 athletes competed during the 2025–26 season. Regional championships in Chicago, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, and Atlanta eventually led to The Collegiate Cup® in Fort Lauderdale, giving teams across the country a chance to compete on a larger stage and giving college cricket fans plenty to Celebrate, Explore, Connect!
The announcement of the 2025–26 season honors added another milestone. For the first time, the CCL named an All-American class, creating a formal recognition for some of the league’s top performers. The season also produced its National Player of the Year, Batter of the Year, Bowler of the Year, and Spirit of Cricket Award, highlighting players who stood out through performance, consistency, and leadership.
A Season That Stretched Across the Country
The CCL’s structure asks teams to perform across different stages of the season. Regional championships test depth and adaptability, while The Collegiate Cup® leaves little room for a bad game. UNC Chapel Hill handled both, completing an unbeaten campaign and claiming its first national title with a 19-run win over the University of Georgia.
The league’s honors were not based on the final tournament alone. Selections were calculated on a per-match basis across the full season, meaning performances during regional play carried the same weight as those in Fort Lauderdale. That approach gave players across the league an opportunity to earn recognition regardless of how far their teams advanced.
The Standout: Nitish Sudini’s All‑Around Campaign
National Player of the Year: University of Georgia
Among all the season’s storylines, few were as complete as Nitish Sudini’s. His 1,248 points at The Collegiate Cup® placed him at the top of the rankings, but the numbers only tell part of the story. Sudini scored 241 runs at a strike rate of 192.80, produced a championship‑stage century, took seven wickets, and collected three Player of the Match awards. Georgia’s run to the final leaned heavily on his ability to influence matches in multiple phases.
He emerged from a competitive field. Pittsburgh’s Omkar Zope led the nation in scoring with 698 runs, while Georgia’s Rishi Pandey delivered the most dominant regional performance in league history, a 1,315‑point explosion at the Southern Championship. Yet Sudini’s balance across batting, bowling, and consistency ultimately set him apart.
Power at the Top: Omkar Zope Sets the Pace With the Bat
Batter of the Year: University of Pittsburgh
Omkar Zope finished the season with 698 runs, including the first regional century of the year, which he reached in just 34 balls. He added seven fifties and hit 71 sixes across the season, giving Pittsburgh a dependable source of runs at the top of the order.
Those numbers made Zope one of the league’s most difficult batters to contain and earned him Batter of the Year honors in a season that also placed him among the inaugural All-American selections.
Aditya Josyula Delivers With the Ball
Bowler of the Year: Rutgers University
Rutgers’ Aditya Josyula led the league with 18 wickets, but the significance of his season lies in how he took them. Ten came at the Atlantic Championship, including a hat‑trick that shifted the momentum of the tournament. Eight more arrived at The Collegiate Cup®, where he kept his economy rate below 6.7 in both competitions. His ability to apply pressure without sacrificing control made him one of the country’s most reliable bowlers.
Leadership Under Strain: Rachit Shah’s Defining Moment
Spirit of Cricket Award / Captain of the Year: Rutgers University
The Spirit of Cricket Award is the league’s highest cultural honor, reserved for a captain whose conduct reflects the sport’s traditions. This season, it belonged to Rutgers’ Rachit Shah.
Rutgers began the year with a winless group stage, a position that often fractures teams. Instead, Shah guided his squad into the Collegiate Cup semifinals. When hazardous conditions forced their knockout match against UNC Chapel Hill to be called off, Shah and his teammates accepted the ruling without protest, congratulated their opponents, and represented their university with composure that resonated across the league.
CCL leadership described Shah as the model for the environment they hope to cultivate, one where competitive ambition coexists with respect for the game and its participants.
The First All‑American Class
The introduction of All‑American honors marks a turning point for college cricket. From more than 525 student‑athletes, only 12 were selected across batting, bowling, all‑round performance, wicketkeeping, and leadership. The league’s founders emphasized that this inaugural group establishes the foundation for future recognition.
2025–26 All-Americans
Batters
- Omkar Zope: University of Pittsburgh
- Nitish Sudini: University of Georgia
- Tanmay Desai: UCLA
- Sanat Misra: UC Irvine
Wicketkeeper
- Utkarsh Srivastava: UNC Chapel Hill
All‑Rounders
- Rishi Pandey: University of Georgia
- Rakesh Singh: University of Florida
- Smeet Pandit: UNC Chapel Hill
Bowlers
- Aditya Josyula: Rutgers University
- Abhiram Kalvakuntla: University of Georgia
- Aayush Singh: Penn State
Spirit of Cricket Captain
- Rachit Shah: Rutgers University
Honorable Mentions included Shrey Patel (UT Arlington), Prem Parikh (Rutgers), Louhith Umashankar (Michigan), Soorya Sathish (Arizona State), and Abhiram Bolisetty (UNC Chapel Hill).
What the First All-American Class Means for the CCL
The introduction of an All-American class gives collegiate cricket something it did not have before: a national benchmark that recognizes performance across an entire season. For players competing at universities around the country, the honor adds a goal beyond regional championships and The Collegiate Cup, while giving strong individual seasons a place in the league’s record.
The 2026–27 season is expected to expand again with more universities and athletes joining the competition. That means the pool chasing these honors should become even deeper, but the first group has now established the standard future classes will be measured against.
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