Dil Se Desi: Indian origin cricketers who played for other countries

Team Australia announced their squad for the T20I series against New Zealand which commences on February 27 The Aussies have included 19yearold Tanveer Sangha of Indianorigin in the squad The cricketer entered the record books as he became only the fourth cricketer of Indian origin to represent Australia Over the years cricketers of Indian origin have played for other nations and made a mark Heres a look at some of those cricketersStuart Clark AustraliaThe former Australian bowler was born to AngloIndian parents Clarks father Bruce Clark hailed from Chennai while his mother Mary was from the Kolar Gold Fields He played 24 Tests and 39 ODIs for Australia taking 94 and 53 wickets respectivelyNasser Hussain EnglandThe former England captain was born in Madras now Chennai to Raza Jawad Joe Hussain a Tamilspeaking Muslim who was also a cricketer and field hockey player Hussain is also the descendant of Muhammad Ali Khan Wallajah who was the Nawab of Arcot State in the 18th century Hussain played 96 Tests scoring 5764 runs with 14 hundreds and 34 fifties He also played 88 ODIs with 2332 runs with one hundred and 16 fiftiesHashim Amla South AfricaThe former South African batsman belongs to a Gujarati Muslim family who is of Indian origin and come from a middleclass background Amla has been one of the most successful cricketers to ever play ODIs and hold records for the quickest to reach 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 and 7000 ODI runs and he has hit 10 ODI centuries Amla played 124 Tests and scored 9282 runs with 28 tons including a triple hundred and 41 fifties In 181 ODIs Amla scored 8113 runs with 27 hundreds and 39 fifties with an average touching 50Ish Sodhi New ZealandThe New Zealand spinner was born in Ludhiana Punjab At the age of four Sodhi moved to Auckland New Zealand along with his family Sodhi has played 17 Tests taking 41 wickets and 33 ODIs with 43 wickets to his nameRavi Bopara EnglandThe England star allrounder was born into a Sikh family of Indian origin Bopara was born in London and played 120 ODIs scoring 2695 runs and scalped 40 wickets He also played 13 Tests with 575 runs and bagged a solitary wicketJeetan Patel New ZealandThe former Kiwi bowlers family belongs to the city of Navsari in Gujarat however he was born in Wellington He played 24 Tests and 43 ODI matches for New Zealand taking 65 wickets and 49 wicketsRohan Kanhai West IndiesThe former West Indies cricketer was born in Guyana but has his family origins from India Kanhai played in 79 Test matches and scored 6227 runs with 15 centuries and 28 fiftiesAshish Bagai CanadaThe former Canadian wicketkeeper batsman was born in Delhi and studied at St Columbas School before he moved to Canada with his family at age 11 Bagai played 59 ODI matches scoring 1922 runs including 2 centuries and 16 fifties along with 50 catches and 9 stumpingsAsif Karim KenyaAlthough the former allrounder was born in Kenya he was of Indian ancestry Karim played 34 ODI matches for Kenya and scored 228 runs and took 27 wickets He also holds a unique feat of captaining his country in cricket as well as in tennisAjaz Patel New ZealandAjaz was born in India but made it into the record books as an international player for New Zealand The leftarm spinner exploded into the limelight when he became just the third player in the history of cricket to take 10 wickets in a single innings The fact that he achieved this feat against India at Mumbai the place where he was born made it all the more sweeterKeshav Maharaj South AfricaMaharaj is currently South Africas premier red ball spinner and is second on the list of South African test spinners with the most wickets He has also recently captained the Proteas in whiteball cricket Keshav although born in Durban has roots from India His father Athmanand is an Indianborn South African who in his initial days played for Natal and dreamt of representing South Africa but couldnt do so due to the Apartheid regime Nevertheless one can say that his son has achieved the familys dreamAll these fanastic cricketers may ply their trade for different nations but they will always remain Dil Se Desi