From Punjab To BBL, Meet Nikhil Chaudhary: Ex-India U-19 All-Rounder Who's Taken The Big Bash By Storm

Former India U-19 cricketer Nikhil Chaudhary has set the stage on fire in the ongoing Big Bash League (BBL) where he is plying his trade for the Hobart Hurricanes.

Chaudhary has scores of 40 and 32 with the bat along with two wickets in his last match for the Hurricanes against Sydney Thunder in Hobart.

The 27-year-old has the caught the attention of the world with his early exploits in his maiden BBL season.

Who is Nikhil Chaudhary?

For the uninitiated, Chaudhary is an leg-spinner and right-handed batter who is only the second Indian male cricketer to play in the BBL after India U-19 World Cup-winning captain Unmukt Chand.

Chaudhary was born on May 4 in 1996, moved from Delhi to Punjab at an early age where he was part of the state team under the captaincy of former India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh.

Chaudhary however, wanted to become a fast bowler like Brett Lee before he turned to off-spin in his formative years.

"I started as a fast bower. I wanted the same action like Brett Lee as did everyone at school," Chaudhary told ESPNCricinfo.

Trained by Yuvraj Singh

Even though he played under Bhajji's captaincy, Chaudhary owes a lot of his skills to former India all-rounder Yuvraj Singh. "I learned a lot of things from him, like how to build an innings, tackle big targets and how to go deep into the innings," Chaudhary said.

"I knew my capability of scoring runs at any stage of the game. I really wanted to crack the IPL and also play for India."

Chaudhary has played just two first-class matches so far in which he's picked 1 wicket. He's also played 16 T20s in which he's bagged 40 wickets at 26.88 and scored 178 runs at an average over 22.