Indian-born US cricketer Timil Kaushik becomes American citizen

The United States national cricket team player Timil Kaushik Patel, who was born in India, has permanently become an American citizen after the naturalisation ceremony held yesterday in Los Angeles, California.

Patel took an oath along with 3800 other immigrants from 100 other nations. Timil Kaushik was holding one of three slots on the US national team for short-term residents of the country who are not American citizens.

The vice-captain of USA national cricket team, before the upcoming tournament in Uganda, stated that this would give greater choices for the team so as to bolster the American team. Patel briefed,”It just gives us more options to select players and to be a stronger team,” as quoted as saying by sportstar. 

He further augmented that the sport does not have the degree of following like that in his motherland but a lot of plans have been executed to promote the sport, which has, in turn, increased the magnitude of cricket being played in the country. “It is not as crazy as it is in India but it is getting there. We have a lot of plans in place. We’re playing more cricket than we used to” said an enthused Patel.

The 33-year old believes that it has been quite a journey for him from migrating from his motherland seven years ago to setting up a medical transport business in California and eventually signing up a contract for the St. Lucia Stars in the Caribbean Premier League.

However, it has not been easy for the Indian to appear in the United States jersey as he was not eligible to represent without the four-year U.S. residency requirement. Citing the growing population of cricket-frenzied South-Asian countries in the North American nation, such as India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan, Patel foresees a vast potential for the sport in the United States.