Exploring The Kiwi-Indian Dominance In Plunket Shield Cricket
We've almost got both a kiwi-African and kiwi-Indian team from the Plunket Shield
We all know about migration/immigration, we see cultural and religious diversity in sport and in our every day lives. This is how the world is these days and it's great, every damn day we get to experience different cultures, food, perspectives, beliefs, the list goes on. When applied specifically to cricket, this has been highly evident in the number of African-born players in kiwi cricket, mainly from South Africa or Zimbabwe.
England tends to be poked, laughed at for the number of South African players in their ranks, however in Aotearoa we have our own fair share; Colin Munro, Neil Wagner, Colin de Grandhomme, Shawn Hicks, the Cachopa bros, Derek de Boorder, Grant Elliott, Donovan Grobbelaar, BJ Watling and there's probably a few that I've missed. There has and will continue to be a strong African influence on kiwi cricket, just like the Indian influence.
There has long been a strong Indian influence in kiwi cricket, yet I don't think the number of Indian players and the quality of their work has ever been so high. This is led by Ish Sodhi, or as the Indian commentators at the World T20 kept reminding us, 'Inderbir Singh Sodhi, born in Ludhiana, not far from here'. Sodhi and his family moved to Aotearoa when Sodhi was young, embedding him in kiwi culture, which when combined with his love for Indian legend Anil Kumble, bred a leg-spinner who enjoyed a steady rise through the kiwi cricketing ranks culminating in that breakout effort at the World T20.
That World T20 campaign came on the back of a very strong Plunket Shield campaign for Sodhi, who switched between his limited overs duties with the BLACKCAPS and 4-day cricket in a manner that you'd expect from an international cricketer. Sodhi took 22 wickets in only four games for Northern Districts at an average of 29.22 and Sodhi enjoyed one heck of a month in February when he took 2/31 in a borderline match-winning spell against Australia in the deciding ODI, he then took 0/29, 7/102, 5/167 and 1/52 across two Plunket Shield games before taking 4/24 in the North vs South T20 fixture.
Sodhi took 19 wickets in four games, in three different formats, in one month.
Judging from the response of Sodhi's work in India, those Indians will love the fact that Sodhi is far from the only Indian cricket born in India, Aotearoa or elsewhere who is contributing to the kiwi cricket set up.
Living up to all the stereotypes, of the nine lads to take over 30 wickets in the Plunket Shield, three were Indian spinners. Jeetan Patel's off-spin took 32 wickets at an average of 34.31 and Jeetan has long held things down for kiwi spin and kiwi-Indian cricketers. According to ESPN Cricinfo, Jeetan (there's a few Patels so we'll use first names to differentiate) was born in Wellington, a nod to the roots that India has in Aotearoa and that Jeetan has been an exceptional servant to kiwi cricket only amplifies that nod.
The two leading wicket-takers this season however were Ajaz Patel (43 wickets @ 33.69) and Tarun Nethula (39 wickets @ 29.15), both of whom were born in India. Ajaz was born in Mumbai/Bombay and like many kiwi-Indian cricketers, settled in Auckland, playing First Class cricket with Auckland before moving down to Central Districts.
Nethula was born in Kurnool, which is smack-bang in the middle of India in the Andhra Pradesh region. Funnily enough, Nethula moved from Auckland to Central Districts before re-joining Auckland where his leggies were a crucial factor in Auckland's Plunket Shield title win.
India could always do with a quality seamer or two, their international team has seen a rotating cast of bowlers used with Ishant Sharma the only bloke to enjoy some sort of consistency. Perhaps India could do worse than looking our way, where Navin Patel and Anurag Verma, then again, neither Navin or Verma were born in India so that could get a bit tricky.
Both are right-arm medium-pacers who rely on swing and seam, perfectly suited then to our kiwi conditions (don't sleep on the spinners and kiwi spin conditions either, now and in the future). Navin was actually born in Birmingham, England before moving to Aotearoa and he's enjoyed a swift rise up the ranks after impressive performances for Manawatu and now with CD, taking 27 wickets at the very healthy average of 27.55. After a strong debut season, Navin could very well become a key figure in a strong Stags bowling group next season along with fellow young bowlers Doug Bracewell, Ben Wheeler and Bevan Small.
Verma has been toiling away in the domestic scene since his debut in 2011. Verma was with Northern Districts as he was born in Hamilton before moving to Wellington in a smart shift south, following Brent Arnel in search of greater opportunities with ND's seam bowling stocks rather flush. Verma played all five of his Plunket Shield games this season in the run home, taking a wicket in all but one innings and he finished with 11 wickets at 45.72.
What really stamps home the Indian influence on kiwi cricket is that Ajaz led the wicket-takers and Bharat Popli dominated with the bat, meaning this is the first season ever in which kiwi-Indians have led run-scorers and wicket-takers. Popli finished with 1149, over 200 runs more than Ben Smith thanks to a trio of centuries, eight 50's and an average of 67.58. Popli was born in New Delhi and came through the grades in Tauranga, only making his First Class debut in 2013 which means Popli has adjusted to First Class cricket extremely quickly.
Fun fact: Popli and Sodhi actually played club cricket together in Auckland with Papatoetoe for a few seasons.
Also enjoying a strong season with the bat was Jeet Raval who was born in Gujarat, on India's West coast, before moving to Auckland. Raval hit 780 runs at an average of 55.71, including a doube-hundy which has been the case for Raval in his reasonably long domestic career after making his debut in 2008. Raval has a First Class average of 43.85 and off all these kiwi-Indian cricketers, it is Raval who is closest to a BLACKCAPS call up right now.
Long may this continue, long may Aotearoa's domestic cricket scene be a fair representation of Aotearoa's multi-cultural society.