While it’s every cricketer’s dream to represent his country at the international level and win trophies, there are a few cricketers who have not just represented their own country, but have gone on to play for some other country as well during their international career.
Let’s talk about 5 cricketers who played for two countries in T20 internationals –
#1 Luke Ronchi
Luke Ronchi was born in New Zealand, but he played domestic cricket in Australia and was picked to play international cricket for Australia as well in the shortest format of the game.
However, Ronchi couldn’t quite cement his place in the Australian T20I squad and in search of more opportunities to play at the international level, he turned to his country of birth New Zealand.
Ronchi went on to play more than 100 international games for New Zealand across all three formats of the game.
#2 Dirk Nannes
Dirk Nannes was also active in the Australian domestic circuit, but after being overlooked by the national selectors over a long period of time, the southpaw explored his opportunities elsewhere and got an offer from one of the associate nations Netherlands.
After Nannes represented Netherlands and the Australian selectors noticed the fact that he could generate a fair bit of pace, they gave him a call-up and Nannes then got to play for Australia as well.
#3 Roelof van der Merwe
Roelof van der Merwe was a very talented middle order batsman from South Africa who could bowl a bit of handy left-arm spin as well and he was tipped as somebody who could become a special player for South Africa in white ball cricket.
But, his form dipped after a while and he lost his place in the South African side. Van der Merwe eventually disassociated himself from South African cricket and he now plays for Netherlands national cricket team.
#4 Izatullah Dawlatzai
It was a rare case of an Asian player turning up for a European nation. Normally, only African and Australian players move to Europe, but Izatullah Dawlatzai, after having played a few games for his native country Afghanistan, moved all the way to Germany to represent them at the international level.
Dawlatzai is still active in international cricket and plays for Germany.
#5 Eoin Morgan
England’s World Cup winning captain Eoin Morgan actually started his international career playing for Ireland where he was born, but he was adopted by England Cricket Board (ECB) very quickly after the kind of ability he showed for Ireland.
Playing for England over the years, Morgan hasn’t just proved himself as a batsman, but has also been their most successful white ball captain till date.
