Published: Dec 19, 2017, 12:18 PM (IST)
Edited: Dec 19, 2017, 12:56 PM (IST)
Five players of Indian origin have represented the New Zealand Test cricket team till now. Dipak Patel, a former cricket who a vital part of New Zealand’s journey in 1992 World Cup, said that he won’t be surprised if the New Zealand XI have more players with Asian heritage in coming 10-20 years: “I think that in the future, the dynamic of the Black Caps team could see a large number of Asian boys playing cricket,” Patel told stuff.co.nz. The conversation emerged when a warm-up match between New Zealand XI and West Indies saw three Indian-born players in the former’s line-up. Jeet Raval smashed 169 and Bharat Popli 62, while Aniket Parikh sniped up 4 wickets.
“I think that in the future, the dynamic of the Black Caps team could see a large number of Asian boys playing cricket. There’s a huge influx of Indians and Pakistanis and Sri Lankans increasing by the year. That’s got to be healthy. The talent base is increasing, there’s no doubt about it. Let’s hope in the near future that these guys do progress on to international cricket. As we all know how strong cricket is in India and Pakistan, that bodes well for New Zealand Cricket,” Patel added.
