By Tom Decent
When Jason Sangha was a teenager, he and his sister would travel to Sydney Olympic Park just to watch Gurinder Sandhu bowl for the Sydney Thunder.
The Sangha siblings, like Sandhu, are of Indian descent, and loved watching the right-arm quick roll his arm over in lime green.
Jason Sangha in action for the Sydney Thunder. Credit: Getty
Now, Sangha is the one who chooses when Sandhu bowls and where he should field.
“To be able to now captain him is pretty surreal,” Sangha said. “It all started with Gurinder and Uzzy [Khawaja]. I can remember going to ANZ Stadium to watch Thunder games with my sister just to go and watch Gurinder Sandhu because he was someone I looked up to and wanted to be.”
Sangha will lead the Thunder again on Thursday afternoon (3:45pm) against the Hobart Hurricanes without regular skipper Chris Green, who is in isolation.
The 22-year-old has taken charge of a team with many players of south Asian descent who are in impressive form.
The Thunder have won their last six matches and sit second on the BBL ladder.
Sangha is third on the Big Bash runs list this season, with 329 runs at 65.8 and a strike rate of 132.
Another player of south Asian descent, Tanveer Sangha, is in equally eye-catching form.
Widely tipped to become Australia’s leg-spinner one day, Sangha has 11 wickets at 16.5 and has the second best economy rate (6.86) of any player with more than 10 wickets this year.
Remaining regular season Sydney Thunder fixtures
Jan 13 - Thunder vs Hobart Hurricanes at Marvel Stadium (3:45pm)
Jan 15 - Thunder vs Sydney Sixers at SCG (6:40pm)
Jan 19 - Thunder vs Melbourne Renegades (4:40pm)
Then there’s Sandhu himself, who snared a casual hat-trick recently, becoming the first male player to take three in domestic cricket history.
Add to the mix that the Thunder’s regular captain Usman Khawaja is coming off back-to-back centuries in his return Test at the SCG, and you’ve got yourself a group of players in good touch.
“We’re all obviously quite tight and I guess in a way we’re trying to inspire not just the next generation of south-east Asian kids, it’s about trying to inspire every kid, and that’s one thing we harp on about at the Thunder,” Sangha said. “We try and connect with our fans.”
Sangha was named Australian Under-19 captain in late 2017 and has led Randwick-Petersham’s first-grade side a number of times.
Thunder coach Trevor Bayliss has let Sangha “run his own race” when it comes to captaincy, which will end when Green returns for the team’s blockbuster match against the Sydney Sixers on Saturday at the SCG.
Tanveer Sangha and Jason Sangha celebrate a wicket. Credit: Getty
“I trust my cricket brain and I feel I have a pretty good knowledge of the game and can read the game reasonably well,” Sangha said. “I’m just appreciative the coaching staff and the players gave me the opportunity.”
Sangha believes Bayliss’s calm demeanour has contributed to the Thunder’s success - eight wins from 11 games - in a season where COVID-19 has wreaked havoc on the competition.
“He just creates this calm and clear dressing room,” Sangha said of the former England coach. “At times when there is so much uncertainty, he just brings an element of calmness.
“He’s a man of few words but he really does get his point across when he does want to talk. The biggest thing with him is he never has mixed messages. It’s always the same theme that he’s trying to get across.”
The Thunder have three games remaining and should they finish second at the end of the regular season, will face the Perth Scorchers on January 22 for a guaranteed place in the BBL final on January 28.
“We’re getting to the business end of the tournament,” Sangha said. “From a batting point of view, it’s been awesome to see that pretty much everyone has scored runs. Three guys have scored 90s, [Alex] Halesy has got 80 not out in the last game, Ollie Davies is very capable. We bat so deep in our team.”