Like the way India has the Ranji Trophy which is the red ball domestic tournament with 38 teams and a lot of young test players are prepared through this tournament, similarly The County Championship is the equivalent in England and over there the future test cricketers from England are made. The main difference is though that the English County Championship allows a limited number of overseas players to play County Cricket as well and due to this rule some of the biggest stars of Indian cricket have tried their hand at County Cricket.
The championship officially started in 1890 and since that time there are 18 county teams which are named after historic counties in which 17 are from England and 1 is from Wales as well. There are 2 divisions of the County Championship which are the Home and Away 4 day fixtures. The 2022 season of the County Championship is ongoing at the moment and there is an Indian player making waves there and hence we are here to give you the information about the other Indian players as well. So, let’s start
Sachin Tendulkar
There is frankly no other player more popular than Sachin Tendulkar and he too tried his hand at County Cricket and in doing so he made history because when he was only 19 years old he became the first ever overseas player to play for Yorkshire county and he was there for a fair bit of time as he played 16 Matches for them and his first match was on 7th May and ar Headingley he made a stunning 107 runs that made the crowd stand on its feet and applaud. He scored an impressive 1076 runs in 16 County Championship matches.
Cheteshwar Pujara
Now let’s talk about the latest popular Indian player to play County Cricket and the reason why we are doing this article. He just joined the Sussex County team and last night he made an immediate impact as in the first innings of this match Pujara was out first ball but he was determined to make amends. After Sussex only made 174 in the first innings and were following on , Cheteshwar Pujara stepped up In the second innings and he went about his way and played 387 balls and with the help of 23 fours he made an outstanding 201* and the match was drawn.
Gautam Gambhir
He is also one of the most popular Indian players to play County Cricket. In 2013 when he was struggling to find any form with the bat , he thought that I should play the red ball domestic cricket in England and thus Gautam Gambhir joined Essex County in 2013 and even played 5 matches for them. It was a short stint but it helped him regain his batting form.
Rahul Dravid
In the year 2000, it was the turn of Rahul Dravid to play the County Championship and he represented Kent County in the tournament and he was absolutely incredible. He scored an amazing 1221 runs in just 16 Matches at an average of 55.50 which included 2 great Hundreds and his batting form improved greatly after this stint with Kent.
Bishan Singh Bedi
One of the most long term and outstanding performers by an Indian player in the county championship was by the great Bishan Singh Bedi and he played more than 100 matches for Northamptonshire. He played 102 Matches for the county and picked up 394 wickets at an average of just 21.16. He also got 23 Five wicket hauls for that team and was one of the best ever overseas players in the history of County Cricket.
Also Read | Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid Comparison
Sunil Gavaskar
The great Sunil Gavaskar also played County Cricket and he played 15 Matches for Somerset County in the year 1980 and was in good form during those Matches. He scored a total of 686 runs from 15 County Matches with a healthy average of 34.29. His second innings classic of 138 against Surrey stood out during his time there. This stint helped him in the later stages of his international career as well.
Anil Kumble
The greatest spinner that India ever saw in Anil Kumble also played a reasonable amount of County Cricket during his illustrious career. He played from 1995-2006 for the Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Surrey counties and in total he played 32 Matches for these 3 teams. He picked 105 Wickets in the 1995 season at an average of just 20.40. He left an indelible mark on this competition like he does in all other tournaments.
Sourav Ganguly
One other player who played a lot of County Cricket was Sourav Ganguly during the time 2000-2006 and he played for Glamorgan, Northamptonshire and Lancashire. His first stint was for Lancashire and in 21 innings he scored 671 runs at an average of 31.95 which included 6 half centuries. In 2005, he signed for Glamorgan and he scored 1 century and 2 half centuries at an average of over 62.
Murali Karthik
He is one of the most tenured players from India to play in the County Championship. He played from 2005-2012 and he played for 4 different counties during this time. From 2005-06 he played for the Lancashire team then he played for Middlesex from 2007-2009 then in Somerset from 2010-11 and finally he played for Surrey county in 2012. He became the first overseas player for Lancashire to take 10 wickets in Debut.
Dilip Doshi
The last player that we will be talking about here is the spinner from India in Dilip Doshi who was a star overseas performer in the county championship. He played a total of 73 Matches between 1977-1981 and he represented 2 teams during that time which were Nottinghamshire and Warickshire and in those 73 matches he picked a total of 246 wickets at an average of 32.07. He has 8 Five wicket hauls in his name.
