He was the captain of Dhofar and wore the number 14 jersey, as he had previously worn throughout his career with the national team.

His most successful season for the national team was during 2001–02, and he was the world's leading goalscorer in international matches in 2001.

He was featured widely as a substitute, but still received an adequate amount of playing time, and scored a goal in the penalty-kick shootout during the final in which Oman lost to the hosts Qatar in a penalty shootout after the goalkeeping sensation Ali Al-Habsi missed a penalty.

In the tournament, Oman won four points in a 2–0 win over Thailand[14] and a 2–2 draw against Iran[15] and hence failed to qualify for the quarter-finals.

[21] During the qualifications, Oman had scored some of the most goals in the shortest period of time, with the largest margin wins in the team's history.

At the end of the year, he was awarded the 2001 Top Goal Scorer Award with a total of 22 international goals,[22] beating Spain's Raúl, England's Michael Owen, and Portugal's Luís Figo, becoming the first Omani and only third Arab, to win the title.