6 Cricketers who were born in top football countries

Cricket is known as gentlemen’s game and it is quite difficult for any young cricketer to make it to the international level in this sport. And, it is almost impossible for an individual to pursue his dream born in countries where cricket is not even known to many.

Brazil, Germany, Italy and many others are some of those nations where cricket is not a major sport. Moreover, they are also reckoned as the non-Test-playing nations. All these aforementioned countries are known for producing some big names in football but not in cricket.

However, they still have a real connection with gentlemen’s game and they have produced some players, who played for different countries at international level.

Here we bring you the players who were born in top football countries:

1. Ashok Gandotra – Born in Brazil – Played for India

Ashok Gandotra, the former spin all-rounder is the only cricketer born in Brazil and played in Test format in international cricket. His father was in foreign services, who was posted in Rio de Janeiro when the Junior Gandotra was born. However, after that, his family shifted back to Delhi and it turned out to be a great stroke of luck for Ashok.

He was very good at studies as well as playing cricket. He was known for his submissive hitting and scored bucketloads of runs at school and college level. He got a chance to represent the nation in two Tests (Australia and England) at the age of 21.

Unfortunately, Ashok failed to replicate his form in first-class cricket at the international level and could manage to score 54 runs in his two appearances before getting dropped. At the age of 27, he bid adieu to cricket to pursue his education. Overall, he scored 2121 runs in 54 FC games.