Introducing Tanveer Sangha, Australian youngster of Indian heritage who floored South Africa
Tanveer Sangha (Source-Twitter)
Australia began their 2023 tour of South Africa with a thumping win in the first T20I. The visitors registered a massive 111-run victory following a dominant performance in both departments. The Men in Yellow are playing the three-match T20I series without some of their senior players. Mitchell Marsh is leading the side in the absence of regular skipper Pat Cummins.
The star of the show with the ball for Australia was the young leg-spinner, Tanveer Sangha. The 21-year-old leg spinner grabbed four wickets in his debut international match. Tanveer began the onslaught by claiming the wicket of Aiden Markram for 7 before removing South Africa debutant Dewald Brevis for 5.
Tanveer then had Tristan Stubbs out-stumped with a beautifully flighted ball. The young wrist spinner bowled Marco Jansen through the gates to claim four wickets. He bowled four overs and took four wickets for 31 runs to play a crucial role in Australia’s emphatic win.
An Indian-origin talent plays for Australia
Tanveer Sangha’s father Joga Sangha was originally from Jalandhar, a town in Punjab. Joga went to Australia in search of livelihood. Tanveer was born on 26th November 2001. The talents of the young spinner were soon making waves around in the Australian circuit. He soon found himself playing in the Under-19 World Cup in 2020, which was held in South Africa.
The tournament produced several talents like Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ravi Bishnoi, and Kartik Tyagi from India. Australia had their Indian star in the form of Tanveer, who took 15 wickets from 6 matches. Tanveer finished 4th in the wicket-takers list, behind Ravi Bishnoi, who picked 17 wickets, followed by Shafiqullah Ghafari (Bangladesh) and Akhil Kumar (Canada) who grabbed 16 wickets each. He had played against India in the first quarter-final of the 2020 Under-19 World Cup. The leg spinner finished with just one wicket but that was the prize scalp of India’s young sensation Jaiswal.
Sangha soon made his First Class debut in 2021 – playing 8 games and picking up 24 wickets with a best of 4/56. However, Tanveer grabbed the limelight in the T20 format with 46 wickets in 32 matches. With an average of 16 and an economy of 7.4 runs per over, Tanveer is made for the shortest format of the game.
The young lad found his name in the 18-man Australian squad for the ODI World Cup. While the squad is scheduled to be trimmed to a fifteen-man squad, this performance by the youngster can come in handy. If Tanveer can keep picking up wickets, he will be a player to watch out for in India in a few weeks’ time.
