Tanveer Sangha became only the second Indian-origin player to make it to the Australian national cricket team after he was named in the 18-member squad for the upcoming T20I series against New Zealand. (More Cricket News)
Cricket Australia on Wednesday announced the squads for their tours of South Africa and New Zealand. Sangha, 19, was among three uncapped players picked for the five-match T20I series in New Zealand.
Sangha, who made a name for himself in the ICC U-19 World Cup in South Africa last year and the Big Bash League, is expected to make his debut during the tour.
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Tanveer's father Joga moved to Australia in 1997 then became a Taxi driver in Sydney. The leg-spinner's mother works as an accountant. Joga hails from Rahimpur, a village 20km from Jalandhar.
Other India-origin cricketers who have represented Australia in junior levels are Jason Sangha, Arjun Nair and Param Uppal. Other prominent players who have India links were Bransby Cooper, Rex Sellers and Stuart Clark.
Interestingly, it was another player with a Punjabi link who became the first Indian-origin cricketer to represent Australia. Gurinder Singh Sandhu, a right-arm pacer, made his debut in 2015 against India in Melbourne in an ODI match.
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Sangha made his BBL debut in 2020 for Sydney Thunder, and has taken 21 wickets in 14 T20 matches.
Squads:
Australia Test squad for the tour of South Africa: Tim Paine, Pat Cummins, Sean Abbott, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Moises Henriques, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, James Pattinson, Will Pucovski, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Mark Steketee, Mitchell Swepson, David Warner.
Australia T20 squad for the tour of New Zealand: Aaron Finch, Matthew Wade, Ashton Agar, Jason Behrendorff, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Ben McDermott, Riley Meredith, Josh Philippe, Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson, Daniel Sams, Tanveer Sangha, D’Arcy Short, Marcus Stoinis, Ashton Turner, Andrew Tye, Adam Zampa.
