History-maker Nikhil Chaudhary proudly dons Australian colours as dream turns reality

According to Cricket Australia, several players of Indian origin, including Gurinder Sandhu and Tanveer Sangha, have represented Australia. However, no India-born male cricketer had played for the national side since Gujarat-born leg-spinner Rex Sellars featured in the 1964 Test against India in Calcutta. Former Australia women's captain Lisa Sthalekar, who was born in Pune, has represented and led Australia.

"We always dream of playing for Australia and it actually happened yesterday. With this gun crew, I was a bit confident about actually going into the field and after that first catch, I was even more confident that I can actually do something on the international stage," said Nikhil.

"So we had some camps in Brisbane, probably like four camps before the series, but I wasn't in the squad at that time. And then I think Travis (Head) took a leave to stay in Australia, obviously to spend more time with his family. I was in Belgium at that time when Tony (Dodemaide, national selector) called me regarding the selection.

"So yeah, I was just playing cricket as I do. I just go all around the world to play cricket, but it was probably the best moment of my life to actually hear from the Australian selector that I've been called up for the series. Even then, I wasn't sure if I was going to play. And then obviously, the day before yesterday, probably a couple of hours before sleeping, I got to know that I'm going to play. So I was a bit anxious.

"Obviously, you always dream of playing for Australia. Once I started playing in Australia, I always dreamt of playing for Australia. That was probably the best moment of my life till now," he said, adding that he loved the crowd at Chattogram, which gave him a good welcome.

"When I was playing for Punjab in domestic cricket, we had big names in the team like Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, so there was always a big crowd in every game. Even if it's a domestic game, people would turn up to watch them. So yeah, obviously it reminded me of the huge crowd and how loud they can be. And they were actually nice. They were just saying my name and trying to talk to me, and I was just having some fun with them, which was good," he said.

In 2020, Nikhil travelled to Australia to visit his uncle in Queensland and was unable to return to India due to COVID-19 as borders were sealed due to the pandemic, which turned out to be a career-defining moment for his life.

"Yeah, it was my birthday plan. So from March to May, I already had my return tickets for India. I just went for holidays. My uncle was there. I got stuck in March. COVID happened," said Nikhil.

"I probably got stuck for six months and then the next wave came on. So I got stuck for another three months and then obviously I started playing for Norths in Brisbane. And then that's where I met James Hopes," he said.

"He was actually very excited about me. He gave my name to a couple of franchises in the Big Bash and eventually I got the contract for Hobart Hurricanes in 2023 after I got that local thing going on. So you have to play for three years in Australia, stay for three years. So yeah, it was a journey," he said.

"It helps you a lot (having those experiences). When you go through that, and it's not just me, it's the whole of Australia. Everyone just loves working. They work, they train. Even a simple man who's not playing for Australia, he wakes up earlier in the morning and goes for a jog before his work. So I just made it my profession. I used to train before going to work, I used to train after work.

"That's why I was a bit calm yesterday as well because I've probably seen worse times in my life, away from cricket. So when you come into cricket which you actually love, you don't get that much anxiety or pressure," said Nikhil.

"They are very real with you, which I love. And then obviously when someone's straightforward, it's actually easy to talk to them, live with them, and cherish all the memories. It wasn't difficult for me and I had good people around me when I moved to Australia, so it wasn't tough for me," he said.

"I keep asking him (Zampa) a lot of questions because obviously, in the initial stages, you have to ask a lot of questions to the seniors. He just got 150 T20 wickets, which is not an easy thing to do, especially nowadays because T20 is more of a batter's format now. He's been great for Australia and I'm going to get as much knowledge as I can from him," he concluded.

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