Cricketers Of Indian Origin Are Making Waves From Oman To Australia

It is no longer a secret that India has become a powerhouse in Cricket over the last few years. From winning two back to back ICC trophies as a team, to an Indian becoming President of International Cricket Council (ICC), India has been dominating in Cricket. However, it's not only Indians, but cricketers from Indian origin have also taken centre stage now.

In the recently concluded Asia Cup, many players from Oman, United Arab Emirates, who have their roots connected to India shined for their respective teams. This team even hired coaches from India, such as Mumbai's former Ranji player Sulakshan Kulkarni is Deputy Head Coach of Oman team. Whereas, Lalchand Rajput, former Indian cricketer is now Head Coach of UAE.

Several players have already shown their capability at International levels. Ish Sodhi, Ajaz Patel from New Zealand, Ravi Bopara, Samit Patel from England, Keshav Maharaj from South Africa are few of them. Even Australia's former Under-19 Captain Jason Sangha, Tanvir Sangha belongs to Indian origin, as one of their parents were citizens of India at one time.

In an exclusive conversation with The Free Press Journal, Jatinder Singh, Captain of Oman cricket team, told us about how his life took a turn when he shifted to Oman in 2003. “I was born in Punjab in 1989. But our family shifted to Oman in 2003. Until then, I was not that much interested in cricket. It was after coming here when I started playing cricket with my cousins. They used to make me the only field. But then, they saw some spark in my batting. There were no proper grounds at that time in Oman. We used to play on the road, mud. My parents then supported me to pursue a career in cricket,” he shared.

“In 2007, I played for the Under 19 team, while in 2008 I played on Astro turf for the first time. Since then my journey took off and now I'm captaining the Oman team. I never had this feeling for any other country. But Oman gave me everything. My beginning is from here only, so I decided to play international cricket for them. Our relatives are there in India. Our aim is to qualify for T20 World Cup 2026, which will be held in India and Sri Lanka,” Jatinder added. He also added that Oman has 60 percent players from India or Pakistan origin, which helps them to communicate easily as most of them speak and understand Hindi language. Under Jatinder's captaincy, Oman qualified for Asia Cup for the first time and also gave India a tough fight in the group stage match.

When asked about Jatinder as well as the overall talent of Oman's team, Deputy Head Coach Kulkarni clarified how they are developing over the years. “I always love to coach developing teams. It challenged me as well and I enjoyed it. Oman is a very talented team. Government is supporting us well. We have our own ground now for practice. Our ground is also known for its floodlights and rated among the top few grounds in the world,” Kulkarni added.

“The fight the Oman team gave to the Indian team in the Asia Cup was commendable. After that India's Captain Suryakumar Yadav talked to the whole team, which was definitely a booster for everyone's confidence. I feel, if the BCCI or ICC can give more attention to associated teams like Oman, they can surely entertain and win your heart. We hope to play with bigger teams or bilateral series with India in India in future. Our first goal is to qualify for the T20 World Cup 2026,” Kulkarni explained.

New Zealand's spinner Ajaz Patel, who took 10 wickets in an innings against India at Wankhede in 2021 is from Mumbai. He migrated with his family from Mumbai to New Zealand in 1996. He became the fifth Indian-origin cricketer to play for New Zealand since Ted Badcock, Tom Puna, Ish Sodhi and his buddy from school Jeet Raval. "Whenever I came back to Mumbai, my heart gets filled with emotions. My roots are deeply connected to Mumbai and that's the reason that 10 wickets spell will always remain close to my heart. I'm enjoying being a professional cricketer for New Zealand. Being a 5 foot 6 in height, it was quite difficult to become pacer, then I chose to become a spinner. My journey has been life changing since then," he shared recently.

Australia's 20 years old Harjas Singh is one of the examples who stole the show recently. Harjas smashed a triple century (314 runs off 141 balls) for Western Suburbs in Sydney grade cricket. The young star, who was born in Sydney, Australia, has his roots in India. His parents are of Indian origin and migrated from Chandigarh to Sydney in 2000. Harjas had also turned heads in the 2024 U-19 World Cup final between India and Australia in South Africa. He had scored 55 runs off 64 balls in that match.

In the 2024 T20 World Cup, the USA team included several players who were born in India or migrated to the USA. That USA team even went on to beat Pakistan. The upcoming T20 World Cup in 2026 and Olympic in 2028 promises to be the perfect platform for all these stars to show their talent one more time.

As an Indian spectator, we all can feel happy for them, even if they perform well against us in future.