Indian-origin player Haseeb Hameed who was in the news lately for making it to the England Cricket team's tour of Bangladesh makes one retrospect about the number of players of Indian-origin in International Cricket teams. The 19 year old Hameed was selected in the squad following his success in country cricket, as he became the youngest player in Lanchashire's history to score a thousand first-class runs.
India fares on the top in the Cricket world. With a record drive in the history of the sport, Indian-origin players in other teams are proof of how deep the Cricket spirit runs amongst the people. Hameed is not the first player of Indian-origin to play in the English team, and most certainly, isn't the last. The team has seen pioneer players like Nasser Hussain, former England captain, Monty Panesar, Ravi Bopara and Samit Patel. They all managed to etch their names, making not one, but two countries proud.
Warwickshire off-spinner Jeetan Patel won the Professional Cricketers' Association (PCA) Most Valuable Player award for a second time, recently. He played for the New Zealand Black Caps in all three formats until 2014, when he chose to quit international cricket and focus on county instead. He currently plays county for Warwickshire in England. Patel made his debut as a supersub for the Kiwis during their tour of Zimbabwe, in 2005. He was a full member of the team, and replaced Craig McMillan for Zimbabwe's innings, taking 1 for 47. His first home international was the fourth ODI of Sri Lanka's 2005–06 tour of New Zealand, when he clinched the 'Man of the Match'. His Test debut was against South Africa in the second Test of NZ's 2006 tour of South Africa. Team coach John Bracewell called him a "long term investment".
Another current international cricketer of Indian-origin worth mentioning is Hashim Amla. The right handed batsman and former captain of the Proteas, Amla was South Africa's Test captain from June 2014 to January 2016. He became the fastest cricketer to reach 2000 Runs in ODIs in January 2011, in his 40th ODI innings. He is currently ranked as the world's eight batsman in Tests and fifth in ODIs, by the International Cricket Council. Also to his name is the achievement of becoming the first South African to score a Test match triple century when he scored 311 not out against England in 2012.
Well-known cricketers have marked various teams, including West Indies, where players like Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Alvin Kallicharran, Ramnaresh Sarwan, and others contributed to the team's success; and Australia, with Gurinder Sandhu.
