USA shows how cricket unites different nations and cultures

Athletes hailing from one country and representing another is not an uncommon thing nowadays in top-flight sports. We have seen that with the world's top teams like the France football team and the England cricket team.

But have we ever seen a more multinational and multicultural sports side than the USA cricket team? 

Captained by a Indian-born man, T20 World Cup first-timers USA are going to compete in a major global ICC tournament for the first time and interestingly, barely any squad member has family roots in that country. 

One of the world's most developed countries, the USA is a go-to place for people who want to secure their future in a foreign land and that explains the high prevalence of expatriates in the USA cricket team. 

Apart from people of subcontinental origin, the USA team features players born in top cricketing countries like South Africa and New Zealand too. 

Almost half of the squad members were born in South Asia, inarguably cricket's hotbed. A few of them have played a decent amount of top-flight cricket in their countries of birth before moving to the USA for better opportunities. 

Monank Patel, born and bred in Gujarat's  Anand district, will lead the USA in their historic World Cup appearance. 

Monank, who played for Gujarat's age-level teams, moved to New Jersey permanently when he was 23. 

Fellow Gujarati Nisarg Patel, unlike his captain, played cricket in the formative years in the USA. 

Milind Kumar, who recently made his international debut, was part of two teams in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and started his domestic career in Delhi playing alongside the likes of Shikhar Dhawan and Ishant Sharma.

There are a couple of players who have played cricket at the Under-19 level for India and later went on to play senior cricket for the USA.

Saurabh Netravalkar and Harmeet Singh, architects of the USA's historic T20I series victory against Bangladesh, were part of India's squad for the 2010 U-19 World Cup alongside the likes of KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Jaydev Unadkat, Sandeep Sharma and Harshal Patel, some of the very established names in Indian cricket. 

Netravalkar, also a software engineer working for Oracle, has also captained the USA and remains a vital cog in the wheel for the side.

Harmeet, once compared to the late spin legend Bishen Bedi, played the 2012 edition of the U-19 World Cup as well and was instrumental in India's triumphant campaign. 

Harmeet's captain for that tournament, Unmukt Chand, is also a USA player now although he missed out on a spot in the World Cup squad.

There are squad members born in Pakistan as well. 

Ali Khan, Player of the Match in the second T20I against Bangladesh, is probably the most recognised USA cricketer as he plays in franchise leagues all over the world.

A lively quick bowler with an exceptional ability to nail yorkers, Khan moved to Ohio in the USA from Pakistan's Punjab at the age of 19.

Wicketkeeper-batter Shayan Jahangir played a fair bit of U-19 cricket for Pakistan and some domestic cricket as well before shifting base to the USA. 

The journey has almost been the same for Jahangir's fellow hard-hitting wicketkeeper-batter Andries Gous, who played U-19 and domestic cricket in South Africa and has recently made his T20I debut for the USA.

Left-arm quick Shadley van Schalkwyk was also born in South Africa and played domestic cricket for Free State, an area where Gous hails from.

Schalkwyk studied at the Wynberg Boys' High School. The legendary Jacques Kallis is an alumnus of that institution.

Now who doesn't know Corey Anderson? The former New Zealand all-rounder is probably the most well-travelled man in the squad.

An exciting seam-bowling all-rounder with exceptional hitting skills, Anderson was once the holder of the record of the fastest ODI hundred. 

He has already made his international debut for the USA and helped them notch up the series victory against Bangladesh. 

Anderson is not the only man to represent two countries in the squad. 

Nitish Kumar, who made his USA debut in the same series as Anderson, has captained Canada in international cricket and most notably played for them in the 2011 Cricket World Cup.

That leaves us with four players born in the USA. 

All-rounder Noshtush Kenjige was born in Alabama but he and his family moved back to India before he even turned one.

Kenjige, the only American citizen of his family, returned to the USA almost a decade ago, having found a job as a biological technician. 

Fellow all-rounder Jessy Singh's family also moved back to India a couple of years after his birth in New York. Jessy and his family then went back to the USA when he was 13.

Aaron Jones and Steven Taylor are two homegrown cricketers coming through the system, playing domestic cricket in the West Indies. 

The USA will take on India and Pakistan in the group stage of the T20 World Cup and a host of the players will get to play against cricketers of their birthplace and maybe meet and make some new friends.