Why are South Asian players underrepresented in Australian cricket?

All over South Asia, cricket can be mistaken for a religion. Here in Australia, it is migrants from the subcontinent who are keeping club cricket alive. So why have so few South Asian players donned the baggy green?

Gurinder Sandhu, Alana King and Usman Khawaja Credit: Getty AAP

According to Cricket Australia data, 32% of all club cricketers registered in Australia were either born overseas or to Australian immigrant parents.

Another report by Fairfax Media in 2019 found that two of the three most popular surnames in Australian club cricket were Indian. Singh was the most popular surname. Patel was third on the list. Other surnames in the top 30 included Kumar, Sharma and Khan.

There has been a seismic change in Australian cricket and for the first time it's forced Australian cricket to have to change.

Patrick Skene, sports writer

But despite this penetration at the grass roots level of cricket in Australia, only a handful of players with South-Asian heritage have had an opportunity to wear the baggy green and play for Australia.

Out of nearly 470 male Australian players, only four have had South Asian heritage. It’s even less in women’s cricket.

Only in recent years, players like Usman Khawaja, Lisa Sthalekar, Alana King and Gurinder Sandhu have made it all the way to the top.

It was tough at times going up through the ranks. I did stand out. I was Pakistani, I was a brown-skinned boy in a very white country which was good and bad. If I did something good I stand out, but if things didn't work out I also stand out

Usman Khawaja, Australian Test Cricketer

So what is hampering people with South-Asian heritage trying to reach the national team? Are there systemic issues or a lack of clear pathways? Are there economic or cultural barriers? Does discrimination and racism play a role?

I think Cricket Australia and the state bodies have been working extremely hard to ensure that they create an inclusive environment for all cultures, religions, age, size, gender. I’d like to think that we’re going to see more subcontinent players coming through the ranks.

Lisa Sthalekar, former Australian captain

Listen to the first episode of Colours of Cricket, featuring Usman Khawaja, Lisa Sthalekar, Gurinder Sandhu, Arjun Nair, coach Ganesh Mylvaganam and other experts. Then once you've listened, why not take our quiz and see how much of a cricket expert you are?

Follow Colours of Cricket in the SBS Radio app or in your favourite podcast app such as Spotify or Apple Podcasts. New episodes in this eight-part series will be released each week.

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Lead Producer: Deeju Sivadas

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Colours of Cricket is a collaborative project from SBS Radio's South Asian language programs; SBS Bangla, SBS Gujarati, SBS Hindi, SBS Malayalam, SBS Nepali, SBS Punjabi, SBS Sinhala, SBS Tamil, and SBS Urdu.