List of India-born players to play for New Zealand cricket ft. Adithya Ashok

Despite a plethora of talent, India continues to have a cutthroat competition because of the massive population. With limited opportunities on offer in the national side, not everyone can make their careers in the game, which has seen many of them migrate to a different country and play the game there. There is also a section of people who move to foreign countries for a different purpose but pick up cricket later as a profession.

Many cricket-playing nations in the world have players of Indian origin in their set-up. Not only are they part of the group, but many renowned Indian players have played at the highest level for countries such as New Zealand. With the ongoing ODI series between India and New Zealand, another such player has played the game.

A look at the India-born players to play for New Zealand cricket ft. Adithya Ashok

1.   Dipak Patel

The Nairobi-born Dipak Patel began his cricketing career in England for Worcestershire. Despite his impressive all-around performance, the Indian Origin player did not get a chance for the three lines before being migrated to New Zealand, where he got to play for 10 years and scored 1823 runs in international cricket, besides picking up 120 wickets in 112 games of ODIs and Tests. An off-spinner, Dipak made his debut for New Zealand in 1987 and represented them in three World Cups till 1996.

2.   Ish Sodhi

The veteran leg-spinner of the New Zealand side, who was born in Ludhiana, has remained a successful campaigner of the side across formats. The leg spinner, who represented the Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League, has been a part of the Kiwi side for 12 years. He has done an impressive performance in the shortest format of the game with 157 wickets in 132 matches at an economy rate of under eight and an average of 22.34, thanks to the four four-wicket hauls.

3.   Jeetan Patel

The current England bowling coach and the former New Zealand off spinner, Jeetan Patel, was born and brought up in Wellington, but his parents are from India. He represented the Black Caps in all three formats and has 24 Tests, 44 ODIs, and 10 T20Is to his name before he decided to retire from the game nine years ago.

4.   Rachin Ravindra

The Kiwi spin all-rounder Rachin Ravindra has a strong Indian connection. His father, Ravi Krishnamurthy, is a software system architect from Bengaluru who moved to New Zealand in the 90s. His first name, Rachin, is a combination of the two Indian batting greats Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar.

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He made his international debut on September 2, against Bangladesh, and has gone on to play for the Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League. He was also part of the New Zealand squad that won the World Test Championship by defeating India in the final earlier in 2021.

5.   Jeet Raval

Born in Gujarat, Raval is a left-hand opening batter and had attended the same school as the Indian wicket-keeper batsman Parthiv Patel before his family moved to New Zealand. The batsman had come through the Kiwi Under-19 team before moving to senior cricket. The South Pole has played 24 Test matches for the Black Caps, so far scoring 1143 runs in the format.

6.   Ronnie Hira

Roni Hira is yet another Indian origin spinner who has represented the New Zealand cricket team. He was born in Auckland, as the cricketer played most of his cricket in the city, and his persistent performance in the shortest of the game in domestic cricket saw him earn a place in the national side.

Hera did not get a massive success at the international level but is known for his sharp fielding and the cameo down under as he was part of the 2006 Under-19 World Cup in Sri Lanka.

7.   Tarun Nethula

Tarun Nethula is a leg spinner who was born in Andhra Pradesh but has played all his professional cricket in New Zealand, where his family moved when he was around 12 years old. In 2012, he was called up to a New Zealand squad for a limited-overs series against Zimbabwe and has played only five ODIs for the side.

8.   Adithya Ashok

The 23-year-old leg spinner, Adithya Ashok, was born in Vellore in Tamil Nadu, and it has been a part of the ongoing Vadodara ODI against India for New Zealand. He was part of Chennai’s Spin Academy for two years, where he earned so many scales about the leg spin as he has part of just two ODIs and one T20I for the Blackcaps.