Who is Nikhil Chaudhary? Indian-born all-rounder makes impression on BBL debut

Last Updated on 6 days by Charbel Coorey

Cricket News: Who is Nikhil Chaudhary? All-rounder makes impression on BBL debut | Nikhil Chaudhary makes BBL debut for Hobart Hurricanes

Nikhil Chaudhary is a former U19 National representative for India who now lives in Queensland. After a couple of fantastic seasons in the local T20 competition, he was signed by Hobart Hurricanes for BBL 13.

The Hurricanes picked up all-rounder Chaudhary as a local player given his Australian residence. More importantly, his numbers in recent years got him the nod. In the aforementioned T20 competition, he scored his runs at an average of 44.8 and strike rate of 164.3.

Chaudhary is not only a hard-hitting batsman, but also a handy legspinner. He made a very promising debut in BBL cricket, hitting an impressive 31-ball 40 against champions Perth Scorchers when the Hobart Hurricanes were in all sorts of trouble at 4/28 and 5/47. His cut shot was particularly eyecatching, as was his magnificent lofted drive against fast bowler Lance Morris.

Then, he started well with the ball, firing in fast and accurate legspinners during the second innings at Perth Stadium on December 20.

“Goal was to play Big Bash” – Nikhil Chaudhary

Before the season, Chaudhary revealed that his goal was to play BBL cricket when he moved to Australia. He also spoke of how teams can make full use of his talent.

“My first goal when I moved to Australia was to be playing in the Big Bash,” he said.

“I would describe myself as a finisher. I’ll be there at the end in the last couple of overs scoring a couple of big ones and finishing the game for the team that will be my goal for this year.”

Salliann Beams, Cricket Tasmania High Performance General Manager, said that it was Hurricanes Assistant Coach James Hopes who put Chaudhary’s name forward.

“Hopesy put Nikhil’s name forward earlier in the year, and ever since then he hasn’t stopped scoring runs, Nikhil has always batted 5, 6, 7 and he knows it so well… hopefully he’ll get his chance.”

Previously, Chaudhary made the decision to leave India with the aim of playing cricket at a higher level in Australia. He moved to Brisbane in 2020 and made an impression right away which has now landed him that coveted BBL contract.