Dubai: Arjun Nair, a prodigiously talented all-rounder who has his roots from Kerala has made it to the Australian Under-19 team.
Arjun arrived in Dubai to play the tri series against New Zealand and Pakistan Under-19 teams. The Australian under-19 team also has another player of Indian origin in Jason Sangha.
With Gurinder Sandhu, also of Indian origin, recently making it to the Australian national team through his exploits in Australia’s junior cricket, it shows that the Australian coaching and cricket structure is ideal for players with skill to come up the ladder.
The UAE’s junior cricketers Shorye Chopra and Dhruva Praveen who are now studying in Australia, have been performing impressively there. Shorye plays in Melbourne and Dhruva in Adelaide university matches.
The rise of Arjun is very impressive and is an instance of how the Australian system gives opportunities to talented players. Arjun’s parents hail from Tripunithura in Kerala, the southern state of India. It was a proud moment for Arjun’s father Jayanand Nair, and mother Shalini Nair, when their son was picked to play the Under-19 series in UAE, where a large number of expatriates from Kerala live.
Speaking to Gulf News from Sydney, Jayanand said: “Arjun started playing from the age of three in our backyard and when he was around four years we took him to coach Ganesh. As Arjun was very promising, this coach asked me to sign him up to play under-10s cricket when he was only six years old. Arjun started playing Grade cricket at the age of 13 and got to play First Grade cricket at the age of 15. He became the youngest player to play Sydney first grade from a subcontinent background, and also the ninth youngest player to play first grade in the 120-year history of Sydney’s first grade competition.”
Arjun, who is a top-order right-hand batsman and off-spin bowler, is only 17-years-old now but has made a huge impact in Australian junior cricket. He was player of the All Schools Under-19 championship in 2015, hitting five centuries in the Green Shield championship - and in 2015 was awarded the Basil Sellers Scholarship for excellence. In the Green Shield championship, he aggregated 996 runs from 21 matches. Arjun also produced a six-wicket spell to bag the player of the final award in the Under-19 National Championship in Adelaide last year. He repeatedly guided New South Wales’ under-17 and Under-19 teams to victory and performed consistently in the NSWCCC team that won the All Schools Championship.
Arjun’s consistent performance won him the Rising Star and sports person of the year awards of Patrician Brothers College, Sports Person of the year 2013 of Richmond - and the Sports Person of the Year in the 2012 Wenty Leagues. His consistency won him a place in the Australian Under-19 team tour to UK, known as the junior Ashes series, last year. In his debut match he destroyed England with a four-wicket spell.
“My goal is to play for Australia in all three formats of the game,” said Arjun, who has now got a developing rookie contract with the Sydney Thunder team.
