Rath has played in 70 T20Is for Hong Kong.
Little did we know, that in a game which involves huge amount of finances, 100 Rupees could make a difference. Hong Kong batter Anshuman Rath revealed a story which was unknown to the masses. In an interview, Rath spoke about a tweet which was put out by India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh.
In his tweet, the former Indian off-spinner spoke about Kedar Jadhav and his bowling action. The former Indian all-rounder was short in stature, and had a unique variation to his bowling. Once or twice in an over, he would bring his bowling arm almost parallel to the ground at the point of release. This would make matters difficult for the batter because it changed the trajectory of the ball.
And this is why Harbhajan put out a tweet, stating that he would hand out a 100 Rupees to any player who hits Jadhav for a six on the backfoot. Little did he know, that achievement was with Anshuman Rath. The Hong Kong batter expressed that he saw the tweet and instantly realised that he had hit Jadhav for a six off the backfoot. Rath instantly fit the criteria to secure the 100 Rupee-deal.
And hence, he found his way to the archives of the game, which was played in 2022. Rath had hit a six to Jadhav off the backfoot in an Asia Cup match in 2022. He instantly tweeted back at Harbhajan with video evidence of the shot. Rath further explained, that he is yet to receive his payment.
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The Hong Kong opener has quite had some journey before making it big. He played for Odisha in India’s domestic circuit for a couple of years, but did not quite like the experience. He had a set of bad experiences which made him feel the game was a burden. It was a clear sense of not loving what he was doing.
After a while, Rath made a really difficult choice of moving to another state which was Vidarbha. Everything there seemed good for the initial period, when he was welcomed dearly and played alongside the likes of Faiz Fazal and Jitesh Sharma. But this time, it was the administrative roadblocks which derailed his progress. It was a registration process with the BCCI which meant that he could no longer be picked for the side.
Rath had captained Hong Kong when he was 20. From there, the game took him to three different continents, which ended up in a roller-coaster. After all that he has seen in his cricketing career, his return to Hong Kong was like a homecoming.
In 70 T20Is in his career, Rath has scored 1828 runs at an average of almost 30. Moreover, he has grown to become one of the most reliable batters for his country. In those matches, he has also scored nine fifties and a solitary ton in the shortest format. His contributions will be very important for Hong Kong to do well in the ongoing Asia Cup 2025.
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