When you watch USA take on teams in the Super8s in the 2024 T20 World Cup, keep an eye out for this left-arm spinner!
Nosthush Kenjige is a story of inspiration, having faith in your process and working hard.
It was March 2021 when my co-host came up to me with the prospect of interviewing a cricketer from the USA. And sure, by no means was Nosthush blockbuster or a big deal at the time.
But to have an international cricketer on your show? The journalist and cricket nerd in us knew that this was a golden opportunity. And boy were we right!
And so it happened. A little over 3 years ago, we interviewed Nosthush Kenjige, the cricketer who you might know today as one of the men responsible for USA’s historic victory over Pakistan in the ongoing 2024 T20 World Cup!
We’ve also narrated this as a Youtube short in case your attention span can’t handle the read!
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Nosthush Kenjige’s Story – Exactly as he told it to us!
Nosh, as he is referred to in the circuit, is originally from Chikmagalur, Karnataka. Born in the USA, his family moved back to India very early on when he was a kid.
He did most of his schooling from Ooty and would come down to Bangalore in the summers for cricket camp. He would practice at the well-renowned Karnataka Institute of Cricket (KIOC) – an academy that has produced some of Karnataka’s most decorated cricketers like Mayank & KL (and also yours truly :P).
Unlike his USA teammates however, Nosthush was one of the few international cricketers who did not find success at age group levels. He put his heart and soul into practice but failed to break into the State team in Karnataka. Nosh tried year after year but found no luck in even the U17s, U19s and beyond that as well.
It had come to a point where Nosthush did not see cricket making any long term sense and naturally, he decided to move back to the USA in 2015 to focus on a career and his future.
As luck would have it, this was also the same time period around which the USACA (USA Cricket Association) was banned by the ICC due to unsatisfactory management and their visions of growing cricket not going all that well.
The ICC took things under their control & went on a nation wide search to identify cricketers to form USA’s national cricket team.
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Getting Picked for the USA Cricket Team
This is where things started to fall in place for Nosthush. Despite not having played cricket for close to a year, Kenjige impressed selectors with his crafty slow left arm orthodox.
After a gruelling process that went on for about 8 to 10 months, he was finally able to make it to the national setup and went on to make his debut for USA around 2017-18.
Nosh’s story is one of great inspiration. The general notion of always trusting your process and working hard eventually pay off. For him, his regular practice ensured that he was ready when the opportunity presented itself.
