5 cricketers who changed their countries in recent years

Cricket is one of the most-followed sports across the planet, with almost every country having its team now. Thanks to the ICC’s constant efforts, many new nations have progressed on the cricket field. Recently, Japan, Nigeria, and Thailand appeared at ICC events and competed with the top-level teams.

So, currently, there are two types of cricket-playing nations. The first group is of the Test-playing nations. These countries have a proper cricketing structure and immense talent. On the other side, the second group is of the associate members. Many associate nations are taking giant strides in the cricket world.

Seeing the development of cricket in other nations, the cricketers who do not receive proper opportunities in their home country, or the associate cricketers who wish to have a better future, consider changing their countries.

In this listicle, we will have a look at the five cricketers who changed their countries in recent years

1. Morne Morkel – Australia

South African speedster Morne Morkel led the Proteas fast bowling attack for many years in the global arena. The right-arm quick represented the rainbow nation in 247 international matches across the three formats. Morkel scalped 544 wickets, with 309 of them coming in Test cricket.

The 36-year-old also played 70 IPL matches, picking up 77 wickets. Morkel represented the Kolkata Knight Riders, the Rajasthan Royals, and the Delhi Capitals. Notably, he received the Purple Cap award for his 25 wickets in the IPL 2012 season.

Recently, Morne Morkel became a permanent resident of Australia. Big Bash League franchise Brisbane Heat signed him as a local player for the previous season. Morkel is married to Australian sports broadcaster Roz Kelly and has two children. Thus, he gained permanent residency in Australia.

2. Corey Anderson – USA

Well-known Kiwi all-rounder Corey Anderson had won everyone’s hearts with his enthralling performances on the cricket field. The southpaw solved many problems for New Zealand with his attacking batting and left-arm medium-pace. Soon, Anderson became a hot commodity in the T20 leagues.

Anderson famously helped the Mumbai Indians qualify for the playoffs in IPL 2014 with a memorable knock of 95 runs at the Wankhede Stadium. He even played under Virat Kohli’s captaincy at the Royal Challengers Bangalore. However, repeated injury breaks hurt Anderson’s career.

He was not receiving opportunities to play at the international level. Also, the IPL franchises ignored him. Thus, Corey Anderson quit international cricket for New Zealand and signed a 3-year deal with the USA’s Major League Cricket. His fiancee Mary Margaret is from the United States.

3. Anshuman Rath – India

Former Hong Kong cricket team captain Anshuman Rath had come into the spotlight after his team gave the Indian cricket team a run for their money in Asia Cup 2018. Opening the innings with Nizakat Khan, Rath scored 73 runs off 97 deliveries before losing his wicket to Yuzvendra Chahal. The two Hong Kong openers had a 174-run opening stand while chasing 286 runs.

Unfortunately, Anshuman’s teammates could not finish off the run-chase as they fell short by 26 runs eventually. That ODI fixture proved to Rath’s last one for Hong Kong. Later, he decided to return to India, and Vidarbha registered the left-handed batsman as a local player.

He revealed that he was based in Nagpur and had relocated to Orange City. The 23-year-old player represented Hong Kong in 38 international games. His best performance came in an ODI match against Papua New Guinea in 2017, where he scored 143 runs from 137 balls.

4. Usman Qadir – Pakistan

Pakistan’s 27-year-old leg-break bowler Hafiz Usman Abdul Qadir Khan made his T20I debut recently against Zimbabwe. He impressed a lot in his first three T20I games, scalping eight wickets versus the African country. His father Abdul Qadir was one of the best Pakistani spinners of his era.

Earlier, Usman wished to represent Australia at the international level. Australian coach Darren Berry motivated him to come Down Under after he had won a bronze medal in the Asian Games along with the Pakistan team. Qadir played domestic cricket for the Western Australian team.

The Lahore-born player also earned a BBL contract from the Perth Scorchers. However, he came back to Pakistan to fulfill his father’s dream and don the green jersey at the international level. Qadir is a part of the Pakistani squad for the upcoming New Zealand tour.

5. Sami Aslam – USA

Former Pakistan Test opener Sami Aslam represented his country in 13 Test matches and 4 ODIs. He aggregated 758 Test runs, including seven half-centuries. But the selectors did not give him another opportunity after the 2017 Test match against Sri Lanka at the Dubai International Stadium.

In white-ball cricket, Aslam scored 78 ODI runs in four innings, with his last appearance coming against England in 2016. After trying his level best to return to the international side by performing well in the domestic circuit, Aslam finally gave up his hope to play for Pakistan again. Last week, he clarified his intentions to move to the USA.

Reportedly, he had some issues with his domestic team Southern Punjab. In the 2020 season of the Quaid-e-Azam trophy, Sami was plying his trade for Balochistan. Now, he will soon be seen donning the USA jersey just like Corey Anderson.