While watching a World Cup Qualifier game, my 9-year-old Cricket crazy nephew asked “ Who are these guys? Do Scotland and UAE also play cricket? It was not his fault that he couldn’t recognise guys like Peter Van der Merve or Rohan Mustafa or Shaiman Anwar. Life of a cricket fan revolves around top countries or maximum to 12 test nations, and this two-part series brings you some unknown heroes of Associate Cricket.
1Anshuman Rath (Hong Kong):
The fifth and final entry among the five best batsmen from Associate cricket is Anshuman Rath. The 20-year-old from Hong Kong has shown immense talent in short career. In 16 matches he has scored 736 runs at an average of 52.57 performing against almost every opposition. Last year he made 143* against Papua New Guinea, the inning was full of a different array of shots which showed his class as a batsman. In World Cup Qualifiers, he made 65 against Afghanistan and 85 against Zimbabwe proving that he can score runs against any opposition. Sadly with Hong Kong losing ODI status, it may be hard for him to play on a consistent basis.
