Ex-Hong Kong player Rath makes move to Ranji Trophy
Rath, who was born in Bhubaneswar, holds an Indian passport.
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Anshy Rath
BDCricTime StaffDesk Report
Posted - 2021-08-30T11:39:04+06:00
Updated - 2021-08-30T11:39:04+06:00
Anshuman Rath, who represented Hong Kong in international cricket, has qualified as a local player for Odisha in the Ranji Trophy.
Rath, who has played five first-class matches, will make his Ranji debut in the upcoming 2021-22 season. The 23-year-old said he was born in Bhubaneswar. He also owns an Indian passport.
"I had served a year's cooling-off period, played club cricket in Nagpur and hoped to be picked for Vidarbha. But when things didn't happen, I had to look for a new opportunity, and that is when Odisha happened," Rath said while speaking to ESPNcricinfo.
"I can speak Oriya, I was born in Bhubaneswar, so in many ways this was a logical next step for me."
Rath played 18 ODIs and 20 T20Is for Hong Kong. He also captained Hong Kong. His last international match was against his country of birth - India - in the 2018 ODI Asia Cup in the UAE.
The left-hander averages 51.75 in ODI cricket (828 runs in 18 innings) with the help of a hundred and seven fifties. His best score of 143* came against Papua New Guinea in 2017.
Rath is looking forward to work with Wasim Jaffer, the new head coach of Odisha.
"Being an opener myself, it was good to pick his brains at the short camp we had," he said. "Obviously he has just come in, so I haven't had a great deal of time. But from the short camp, the takeaways were plenty.
"It's not hard to see why he's respected so much. He can be a tough coach [and] at the same time be someone who can put his hand around your shoulder when you need it. His record speaks for itself. If I can tap into all that experience, it'll be beneficial to me and the team."