The subject of ‘India-origin cricketers’ always fasci nates Indian fans, specifically even Indian cricket experts also talk a lot about the talented ‘India-origin’ cricketers who play for other teams in international cricket. Most of the Indian cricket experts are fond of praising the players who play for other countries and have their roots in India.
But it seems like the former Indian cricketer Atul Wassan has completely a different perspective on this ‘notion’ of talking about the India-origin cricketers. He came up with a blunt opinion while thoughts on the young and talented New Zealand bat ting all-rounder Rachin Ravindra.
In the live TV show Cric it Predicta powered by 1xBAT, the Indian Sports Fans founder Sunil Kalra asked Atul Wassan if the latter would like to see or have any soft-corner for the India-origin players, who are playing for other countries. Notably, Rachin Ravindra is currently in action in the ongoing IPL 2024 with the five-time champions, Chennai Super Kings. In reply to this question, the former Indian pacer took a ‘hard stance’ and opted to give his blunt opinion about the same.
“See, I don’t have any soft corner for them, they play against India so we don’t have any affection toward them. For example, Rishi Sunak is Britain’s Prime Minister, he is Indian but we do not have any affection for him,” replied Atul Wassan. “However, if we talk about Rachin Ravindra ‘the cricketer’ in general then he is a brilliant player. For example, if you give a football to any kid from Argentina or Brazil, he or she’ll learn to play it anyhow, similar to the Indians, wherever they live in the world, if you give them the cricketing setup, they’ll learn to play cricket anyway,” he added later.
Speaking of Rachin Ravindra, he was bought by the joint-most successful team in IPL history, Chennai Super Kings in the IPL 2024 mini-auction for an amount of INR 1.8 crores. (Sunil Yash Kalra is a women’s cricket histo rian and founder of Indian Sports Fans.