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5 cricketers who changed their countries in recent years
There is no doubt that now Cricket is one of the most popular and followed games throughout the world. International Cricket Council (ICC) has been trying to spread the game among more countries, especially in those places where cricket is still in the cradle. As its reflection, it was noticed recently that countries like Japan, Nigeria, and Thailand participated in the ICC events and competed with the better teams.
Two types of cricket-playing countries are seen nowadays. One group is Test-playing countries where the infrastructure to develop the game and several prodigious cricketers have already been generated. The other group of cricket-playing nations is associate members of the ICC who have been in efforts to institute proper cricket-infrastructure to develop the game as well as talented budding cricketers.
There many cricketers in the world who in their journey to ascertain their careers have been deprived of required infrastructural assistance and are compelled to shift their base from home nations to developed cricket-playing countries.
We will be looking towards such 5 cricketers who changed their countries in recent years in this article.
Morne Morkel
Morne Morkel, the South African speed-star can easily be termed as one of the top 5 cricketers of the world. The right-arm fast bowler has envious statistics of bagging 544 wickets including 309 in Tests off 86 matches, 188 wickets in One-Day International (ODI) matches off 117 matches, and 47 wickets off 44 Twenty20 International matches. Representing South Africa, Morkel has an incredible economy rate of 3.10 in Tests and 4.95 in ODIs. One of the Top 5 players in the world was also the leading wicket-taker in the 2015 World Cup.
Morkel had retired from international cricket in 2018, especially after being overlooked by Cricket South Africa in 2016 for the T20 World Cup. The South African fast bowler has become an Australian citizen when he received the permanent resident's card last month. He had previously stated that he wanted to stay with his family there. After having shifted to Australia Morkel has received from Brisbane heat to take part in the T20 Big Bash League and Morkel has stated that he is still enjoying cricket as he used to do before. He has said he also wants to give his best as usual for Brisbane Heat in the League.
https://www.cricket.com.au/
Corey Anderson
Corey Anderson is one of the notable cricketers from New Zealand in recent cricket history. He can be listed among the 5 cricketers who changed their countries in recent years. Anderson has always been an amazing cricketer since the age of 16 years old for his aggressive style of batting but Anderson steered New Zealand to the top tier of international orbit when he recorded a world record with the fastest hundred in One-Day International (ODI), a 36-ball blitzkrieg (unbeaten 131 off 47 balls finally) against West Indies at Queenstown. Corey Anderson maintained his tremendous form also in the 2015 ODI World Cup bagging the best all-rounder's laurel with two fifties including a stormy 58 in the semifinal against South Africa and 14 wickets in the tournament at 16.71. He was consistent in all three formats of the game as his brilliant 95 for Mumbai Indians in the 2014 Indian Premier League (IPL) is still memorable.
Anderson who can be listed among the Top 5 cricketers has said goodbye to international cricket following repeated injuries that broke his consistency and he was being snubbed by the New Zealand Cricket board as well as by the IPL franchises. As its aftermath, the 29-year old all-rounder has settled in the USA along with his fiancée Mary Shamburger and is expected to resume his career playing in the USA Major T20 league as well as representing the USA in international cricket in near future.
Incidentally, USA Major T20 League has received a big boost after Kolkata Knight Riders and Trinidad & Tobago Knight Riders have announced a long-term investment in the USA Major T20 league, expected to commence from 2022.
https://www.cricket.com.au/
Anshuman Rath
Anshuman Rath is another cricketer among the 5 cricketers who changed their countries in recent years. He is the former captain of the Hong Kong national side. Last year September the 23-yer old left-handed batsman left the national team to continue his career in India. Anshuman has now settled in Nagpur and registered his name with Vidarbha Cricket Association to resume playing in domestic cricket. But he still needs to complete a one-year cooling-off period to earn the eligibility to take part in domestic tournaments regularly. Anshuman is living in Vidarbha in a rented flat. He has taken part in only a match for local club MSSC and scored 38 runs against Eleven Stars.
Rath led Hong Kong in the Asia Cup in 2018 and against India, his team almost had earned the desired victory. Chasing a target of 286 runs Hong Kong innings ended in only 26 runs behind the target at 260. Rath and Nizakat Khan had a dream 174-run partnership while Rath struck 73 and Nizakat scored 92 runs. That stupendous performance helped Rath to decide to move to India. Anshuman Rath has represented Hong Kong national team in 18 One-Day International matches including his best performance against Papua New Guinea in 2017 where he struck 143 runs off 137 balls. He also has played in 20 Twenty20 International matches and has gathered 321 runs.
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Usman Qadir
Usman Qadir is the son of legendary Pakistani leg-spinner Abdul Qadir. The 27-year old Usman had his debut in a Twenty20 international against Zimbabwe. He was able to impress by capturing eight wickets from three T20 matches against the African country. Usman, also a wrist spinner like his father but with a different style of bowling action, was highly potential at the youth level. He was one of the regular members of the Pakistan squad in the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, China and Pakistan won a bronze medal-winning in the third-placed playoffs against Sri Lanka. But frustrated by his failure to push himself to the senior level standard Usman went to Australia. Encouraged by Darren Berry the leg-spinner first participated in Adelaide Cricket Club in the domestic tournaments in Australia and then donned Western Australia shirts in the One-Day championship and his 3 wickets for 50 runs guided Western Australia to win a crucial match against Victoria. He also had regularly participated in the Australian T20 Big Bash League Usman was determined to get Australian citizenship and play for the country.
But after finding out difficult to represent Australia in the 2020 ICC T20 World Cup, Qadir changed his mind and started setting focus on returning to Pakistan and he was picked up in the country's T20 probables against Australia, then against Bangladesh. Usman Qadir finally his debut against Zimbabwe in a T20 International match in November this year. Qadir has so far played in three T20 International matches and scalped eight wickets so far.
https://cricketaddictor.com/
Sami Aslam
Sami Aslam is a former Pakistan opening batsman in Test. He has donned Pakistan shirts in 13 Tests and four One-Day International (ODI) matches. In the traditional format of the game, in Test Aslam has scored 758 runs in his kitty including seven fifties. But he was upset by the selectors' negligence, especially when he was overlooked by the selectors after the Test against Sri Lanka in 2017. As its aftermath, Aslam decided to shift to the USA. Aslam's decision became stronger after he was reportedly angry with the domestic team Southern Punjab. Aslam will be seen in action with the USA national team in near future.
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