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oi-Prakash KL
Leave apart captain Geetika Kodali and her deputy Anika Kolan, even the reserve players of the 15-member squad are of Indian roots.
New Delhi, Dec 16: For all these years, it was said that cricket is a religion in India, but it now looks like even among the Indian-origin people settled in the US, it remains a favourite sport.
Well, a photo of the American squad for ICC Under-19 Women’s T20 World Cup, which has gone viral, amply proves it as most of them are apparently people of Indian origin. This has left the netizens wondering whether it is an US team or an Indian B-team playing for North America.
Meet the squad
Geetika Kodali is the captain of the 15-member squad and Anika Kolan is her deputy. Aditi Chudasama, Anika Kolan, Bhumika Bhadriraju, Disha Dhingra, Geetika Kodali (c), Isani Vaghela, Jivana Aras, Laasya Mullapudi, Pooja Ganesh (wk), Pooja Shah, Ritu Singh, Sai Tanmayi, Eyyunni, Snigdha Paul, Suhani Thadani and Taranum Chopra are the other members of the team.
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Moreover, Chetnaa Prasad, Kasturi Vedantham, Lisa Ramjit, Mitali Patwardhan and Tya Gonsalves are all named as reserves. The tournament begins in January 2023 in South Africa and the US team will take on Sri Lanka in their first match. They will then be playing a match each against Australia and Bangladesh.
📡MEDIA RELEASE: USA Cricket Women’s U19s Squad for Historic First World Cup Appearance Named
15-player squad to represent Team USA is named for the inaugural ICC Under-19 Women’s T20 World Cup in South Africa next month
➡️: https://t.co/xB789FYppc#WeAreUSACricket🇺🇸 #U19CWC pic.twitter.com/x6Y00UXrE7
— USA Cricket (@usacricket) December 14, 2022
Looking at the names, it gives an impression that all the players have their roots in India and this has paved the way for the netizens to add humour to the story. “The USA women’s cricket team is a more diverse representation of India than the Indian women’s cricket team!:),” a user wrote. “This is like an Indian team,” said another one. “United States of… India?” read yet another tweet.
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The Indian-origin players in the squad are mostly brought up in the US. Captain Geetika is from California and started playing the sport at the age of 11 whereas vice-captain Anika started playing it at the age of 9. Cricket is not a popular sport among the native Americans and the men’s cricket team also comprises many players from the Indian community.
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In the US, over 4.5 million or 1.4 per cent of the population are of Indian origin. They are the largest group of South Asian Americans, as well as the second largest group. It is also the most successful, with the median household income at $1,07,000 – almost twice that of American-born households, according to a report.
Indian-Americans have been successful in every field. From Vice-President Kamala Harris to Google CEO Sunder Pichai and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, people with Indian roots have achieved the ‘American Dream’ and lived it as well.
Story first published: Friday, December 16, 2022, 15:35 [IST]
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