Top contender opens up on spin race… and why he can bust Aussie myth<\/a><\/p>\nRediscovering some of his youthful passions has been beneficial to Sangha, who has starred in the middle-order for South Australia in their recent back-to-back Sheffield Shield triumphs.<\/p>\n
The DJ decks were there when he was the leading run-scorer for Australia when captaining a run to the final in the 2017 under-19 World Championship in New Zealand.<\/p>\n
Those in the know still talk about a rap skit Sangha performed with Austin Waugh, the son of former Australian skipper Steve Waugh, in a squad featuring Nathan McSweeney, Will Sutherland and Lloyd Pope among others. <\/p>\n
And now he has pulled the decks back again while touring India with a new generation of Australian talents.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is funny you ask (but) I have got my DJ set with me,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cDuring the 19s World Cup, actually, I (mucked) around with a bit of DJ stuff just because we were young and whatever and then probably about six months ago, I thought, \u2018Oh, maybe I should try it out again and just see what happens.\u2019 <\/p>\n
\u201cThere was a photo of me doing a little bit of mixing and it got around the group chat, and the boys gave me a bit of stick for it, which was pretty funny. So I just thought, \u2018Ah, well, let\u2019s just keep mucking around.\u2019 I\u2019m not playing any gigs or Coachella anytime soon. But \u2026 it is something to muck around with and have a bit of fun.\u201d<\/p>\n
The seam, the spin and the sizzle<\/p>\n
Being around aspiring Australian cricketers on their first visit to the subcontinent gave Sangha time to reflect on his own path while filling the laundry bag with his whites.<\/p>\n
It was the middle of summer in Chennai and bloody hot. So hot, in fact, that there were excessive heat warnings in place and the Aussies are running through several shirts a day while training and playing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the boys have all been packing three or four shirts \u2026 when we\u2019ve been batting and bowling. It\u2019s been pretty intense,\u201d Sangha said. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve only got a certain amount of clothes \u2026 for this trip so, yeah, they\u2019re all getting a run through. They\u2019re all just sticking to you and dripping wet. So it\u2019s, ummm, it\u2019s fun.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sangha should only now be entering the prime of his career aged 26 but on this tour he is an old-stager keen to provide a guiding hand to those transitioning into senior cricket.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe (had) some boys here who just finished the under-19 World Cup as well in Steve Hogan and Aryan Sharma (and) it\u2019s amazing to think that like obviously I was once in their shoes, just finishing that under-19 age group and transitioning into a full-time contract with the state,\u201d he said <\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, I didn\u2019t know where my path was going to go, but I didn\u2019t think I\u2019d probably be where I am today and that\u2019s just from a life point of view, not even just from a cricket point of view.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think when I was that age I\u2019d probably just moved to Sydney from Newcastle, and now I\u2019m playing for South Australia and living in Adelaide. It\u2019s a nice reminder that you never really know where the journey is going to take you. But cricket has been great for me and so has South Australia.\u201d<\/p>\n
Learning from a Rhino<\/p>\n
It feels like a lifetime since Sangha, who honed his eye as a kid facing a ball machine his dad used to lug up a hill near their home in Newcastle, was signed by New South Wales.<\/p>\n
A decade has passed since he made his under-19 debut for Australia and later represented a CA XI against South Australia aged 16 before moving to Sydney as a 17-year-old.<\/p>\n
Not long after he became the second-youngest player behind Sachin Tendulkar to score a century in a match against England during the 2017\/18 Ashes when representing a CA XI.<\/p>\n
He captained the Sydney Thunder in his early 20s but after a testing period in domestic cricket in 2023\/24, where he slipped from the NSW side and agonised over every ball, let alone every dismissal, a fresh start was in order.<\/p>\n
Former Australian fast bowler Ryan Harris, who was Sangha\u2019s co-coach alongside Chris Rogers in the under-19s, had assumed the SA role and lured the former prodigy to Adelaide.<\/p>\n
For a player Fox Cricket expert analyst Kerry O\u2019Keeffe likened to former South African star Hashim Amla given his silky technique and sweet timing when in full flight, he arrived in South Australia bereft of belief.<\/p>\n
\u201cLooking back, it has definitely been a pretty crazy journey and one that I think I have definitely learned a lot from,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cRhino had been my \u2026 Aussie coach from juniors onwards, him and Bucky Rogers, so I think he\u2019d obviously seen the overthinking young me wanting to really dominate, the intense sort of 17 to 19-year-old Jason, and probably when I came to South Australia, (I was) probably low in confidence and probably doubting my ability a little bit, (which was) the complete other side. <\/p>\n
\u201cSo he\u2019s definitely seen a few different phases of me through my career and I think the conversations with him \u2026 you know when you can be very vulnerable to a coach about how you are, how you\u2019re feeling and where your game is at, and for him to have no judgment but to really try and help you on that journey, that\u2019s the most empowering thing for a player, to be able to have that trust and to be able to have that vulnerability with your coach. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of history and there\u2019s a lot of trust that\u2019s been built. With that, I think he\u2019s just trying to really get the best out of me and (teach me) not to put too much pressure on myself. I think he\u2019s seen, and I\u2019ve seen when I was quite young, that I did put a lot of pressure on myself and nowadays it\u2019s just about trying to make sure that there\u2019s one part of me that wants to keep playing my best cricket, and thank South Australia for giving me that opportunity. <\/p>\n
\u201cI want to keep doing it for the state and for the people and for my teammates. But there\u2019s another part as well that just wants me to, you know, just realise that cricket\u2019s obviously one part of life, but just really wants me to just to keep remembering there\u2019s more to life than just cricket as well, so I can\u2019t speak highly enough of Rhino.\u201d<\/p>\n
The chemistry has worked, with Sangha striking the winning runs for SA in their drought-breaking Sheffield Shield success in what was a stunning 2024-25 season.<\/p>\n
Despite playing only six matches after being encouraged to earn a spot in the Shield team, Sangha finished seventh on the competition\u2019s run list when scoring 704 runs at an average of 78, including 151 on debut for the state.<\/p>\n
The runs were harder to come by last year – and that was the case across the board in the Sheffield Shield – but he still finished 11th on the run-scoring list highlighted by a century against NSW in March.<\/p>\n
Jason Sangha is mobbed by fans celebrating the first South Australia\u2019s successive Sheffield Shield triumphs after hitting the winning runs in the 2024\/25 finals to end a lengthy drought for the state. (Photo by Sarah Reed\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
An education like no other<\/p>\n
Harris has highlighted Sangha as a prospect for higher honours and his second trip to India in 12 months is part of a learning curve aimed at helping him mature in spinning conditions.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Keeffe, too, told foxsports.com.au in January that Sangha was the type of talent who, if he managed to string some good scores together, was more than capable of pressing his claims to become a Test player for Australia.<\/p>\n
The trip a year ago proved a startling experience given the contrast between pitches in Australia when compared to the spinning decks in India but he is loving the education.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it was a big eye opener for me last year and it probably bought the way that I play spin – it\u2019s very different over here playing spin than how you play it back home – so I took some good learnings and hopefully coming back this year, I\u2019ve got a bit more understanding of how to go about it a second time around. It\u2019s been good so far,\u201d Sangha said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn Australia, obviously, the ball still spins, but it probably doesn\u2019t get that exaggeration that you see when you watch a Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test where balls are either staying low (or) balls are jumping up and jagging across the crease. <\/p>\n
\u201cEven the way the spinners bowl in Australia \u2026 because of our wickets, they get over the ball. You see guys like Nathan Lyon who has quite a big overspin. All the offies coming through now, Corey Rocchiccioli (is an) example, they all get quite up and over the ball and use their bounce, whereas over here \u2026 even the really tall spinners, everyone goes quite square with the seam.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose are the ones where if it hits the seam, it might jag sharply, but other times it just skids straight through, and that\u2019s probably why guys like (Ravindra) Jadeja and (Ravi) Ashwin have had such good success over the years, with the way they bowled with the side spins.\u201d<\/p>\n
Signing on for the Shield. Jason Sangha credits his move to Adelaide for helping him rediscover the touch that made him one of Australia\u2019s brightest prospect. Image\/Russell Millard PhotographySource: News Corp Australia<\/p>\n
With the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series starting in January and the certainty of a changing landscape in the Australian Test team in coming years, the experience Sangha is gaining could prove critical if he can fire in the infancy of the Sheffield Shield. <\/p>\n
Irrespective of that prospect the Novocastrian, who is of Indian descent, has loved furthering his own expertise and said talking to local batters had proven illuminating.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe best experience I probably received was talking to some of the guys who played a bit of first-class here, local players, about how they go about it and a lot of it is obviously they\u2019re scoring quite square of the wicket,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey use the sweep shot when they need to but I just think their ability to be able to have really good foot work, to hit the ball square (is important). And, also, when bowlers do miss, they always hit for four or six, whereas I would probably take those sort of ones and twos. But when the bowlers miss, they definitely find the boundary, so I think the whole experience has been a bit of an eye opener as to how different it is to playing in Australia.\u201d<\/p>\n
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