Indian-born cricketer Nikhil Chaudhary has achieved a historic feat by being selected for Australia’s T20I team. (Photo/IANS)

30 year old during this year’s IPL Nikhil Chaudhary Was traveling with Delhi Capitals as a net bowler, with an outside chance of getting a contract. He took a few days off to meet his family and childhood coach Charanjit Bhangu in his hometown Ludhiana. Suddenly, he cut his trip to India short after promising his coach. “Sir, I have to join the Australian team camp. You will get some big news soon.”Chaudhary gave big news to Bhangu on Thursday morning. He became the first India-born male cricketer to be named in an Australian international squad in six decades as the selectors picked him as a leg-spinning all-rounder to be included in the T20I squad, which is currently playing in Bangladesh. Pune-born Lisa Sthalekar has led Australia in women’s cricket.The selection was the latest milestone in an amazing journey for Delhi-born Chaudhary, who played for Punjab for three years. In 2020, he was visiting his uncle in Queensland when the world went into lockdown due to COVID-19. Unable to return, Choudhary played a few club matches in Brisbane as Australia eased restrictions. Soon, his talent was noticed. Since then he did not look back.In January 2017, Nikhil Choudhary made his senior men’s T20 debut as a medium pacer in the Punjab team, which featured a bowling attack of former India cricketers Harbhajan Singh, Siddharth Kaul, Sandeep Sharma and Gurkeerat Mann. In March that year, on his List A debut, he shared the dressing room with Yuvraj Singh. He still has the contact of India’s left-arm fast bowler Arshdeep Singh in his phone book. But with a permanent residence stamp on his passport, he has got an international call-up to Australia.Having represented Punjab in 14 List A matches, Chaudhary was looking towards an uncertain future. The Covid lockdown actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise for them. “In those eight months, Nikhil played a few club matches in Brisbane. Soon people in the system started praising him. He called me and said he was liking the culture because he had talked with immigrants. He said he wanted to stay here because the people who mattered were valuing his talent,” his childhood coach Charanjit Bhangu told TOI.Choudhary had to change his game inside-out to get fit. “Cricketers abroad usually struggle against spin. Foreigners come to my academy to learn to play spin. But Nikhil was always versatile. When he first came to me at the age of 10, we made him bowl and bat off-spin. But there was intense competition for the off-spinner’s spot in Punjab. So, as he grew up, he bowled medium-pace in-swingers. But he also bowled leg-spin in the Punjab nets. Used to bowl, “Bhangu.Once Chaudhary decided to stay in Australia, he started doing odd jobs to support the household. He chopped vegetables in a restaurant, drove cabs and even delivered parcels while trying to make his mark in cricket in Tasmania.“He believed he could do something remarkable in Australia. He always maintained a good diet but he was willing to adopt the food habits of that country, such as sources of protein intake. Two years later when the travel ban was completely lifted, he came to me and worked on his batting for two and a half months. In India he was more used to playing on the front foot. Since then, he mainly comes to me to work on his batting,” said the proud coach.Chaudhary got his big break when Hobart Hurricanes selected him for the Big Bash League in 2023. “Nikhil was very right about the sporting culture there. He made it to the BBL in just three years,” said the proud coach. Choudhary made an immediate impact in the BBL by winning a game with the bat, knocking Pakistan fast bowler Haris Rauf out of the park. His first-class debut came last season and he took five wickets on debut against Queensland apart from saving a match for Tasmania with the bat.“The panel has been impressed with his BBL form, particularly last season, which has led to his inclusion in the squad,” selector Tony Dodemide was quoted as saying by Cricket. com. And. “He will be in contention to play his first game for Australia when we sit here next week to pick the team for the opening T20 match,” he said.According to cricket. com. A number of Indian-origin players have played in international cricket, including Gurinder Sandhu and Tanveer Sangha in AU, Australia, but not since the 1960s (when Gujarat-born leg spinner Rex Sellers featured in the 1964 Calcutta Test) has an individual of Indian origin played for the national team.