Teja Nidamanuru

Born in Andhra Pradesh but raised in New Zealand, Teja Nidamanu’s route to international cricket is a unique one. Coming up through the ranks at Auckland, the young all-rounder played youth cricket alongside future Blackcaps such as Glenn Phillips, Colin Munro, and Lockie Ferguson, but despite occasional appearances never nailed down a place in the Auckland first team. His first brush with fame would come only on departure from New Zealand in early 2019, appearing on House Hunters International as he looked for a new home in the Netherlands. His next appearance on television would be in Orange, representing his newly-adopted country on the field four years later.

It was a player-coach gig at second-division club Kampong Utrecht that brought Nidamanuru to the Holland, but an unexpected job offer outside of cricket that kept him there – working as a product manager at commercial software company Stratex. He was able to combine the role with his cricket, first moving to top-division club Punjab Rotterdam to play alongside Stratex colleague Stephan Myburgh, and later to VRA Amsterdam. By then Nidamanuru’s consistent scoring and handy part-time off-spin had caught the attention of national coach Ryan Campbell. With the Dutch beset by consistent availability issues during their Super League campaign Nidamanuru was parachuted into the squad almost immediately upon qualifying through residency in 2022. A top-scoring 58* not out on debut against the West Indies earned him an extended run in the side, and he took full advantage to stake a permanent claim. After a lean few months Nidamanuru struck his maiden ODI century, an unbeaten 110, against Zimbabwe on their final tour of the ODI Super League.