Tanveer Sangha is only the second person of Indian origin to be selected in the Australian men’s senior cricket team. The 19-year-old was recently included in Australia’s 18-member squad for the T20 International series against New Zealand in February.

In an interview with The Times of India, Tanveer said that he never expected to make it to the squad at such a young age.

“I was over the moon when I got the call. It took a while for it to sink in,” he was quoted as saying.

Gurinder Sandhu had, six years ago, become the first person of Indian origin to be selected in Australia’s senior cricket team.

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Tanveer played for Australia at the 2020 Under-19 World Cup and was the team’s highest wicket-taker with 15 wickets at an average of 11.46 and an economy-rate of 3.58.

Tanveer’s parents moved to Australia in 1997. His father, Joga, was a farmer in Jalandhar before he moved on a student visa to Sydney and soon started driving a cab.

The young leg-spinner, who plays for Sydney Thunder in the Big Bash League and bagged 21 wickets by the end of the group stage this season, said he benefited greatly from attending the East Hills Boys High School as it gave him the opportunity to train at a good cricket club. This is the same school that Steve and Mark Waugh had gone to as well.

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Tanveer said that in 2018, during an Under-16 series against Pakistan in Melbourne, he was introduced to Australian-Pakistani leg-spinner Fawad Ahmed. “Since that day, he has been my mentor,” he said.

“It’s been the last couple of years that we’ve started to hear about Tanveer and now seeing him perform in the Big Bash and performing very well at a young age is very exciting,” Australian national selector Trevor Hohns was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.

“We have high hopes for him going forward, however we don’t want to put too much pressure on a young player, especially a legspinner, because as we know it’s hard for young players. If he gets the opportunity in New Zealand we have to make sure we look after him because experienced players at international level will target a new guy. It’s a great opportunity for him and exposure for him to find out what the standard is like.”