There have been many instances of cricketers with Indian origins taking citizenship of a different country and representing their adopted country in international cricketer. However, you would be surprised to know that one of the world’s fastest bowlers ever, Australia’s Shaun Tait is now an ‘Overseas Citizen of India’ (OCI). Tait was granted the same last year, courtesy his Indian wife Mashoom Singha who he met in 2010 during his IPL stint with Rajasthan Royals and got married to in 2014 after 4 years of courtship. However, do not confuse this with Indian citizenship as India does not approve dual citizenship and OCI is not actual citizenship of India as it has many limitations such as no right to vote, no right to hold constitutional offices, and no right to buy agricultural properties. It was introduced by The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2005 in August 2005. There were also speculations about him willing to represent India in the future in international cricket. However, it all died after he announced his retirement from all forms of the game last year.
Shaun William Tait is an Adelaide born Australian right arm fast bowler. During his heydays, this 6.4 footer was often considered as one of the quickest to have ever played the game. His quickest recorded ball was bowled against England at Lords at 161.1kph (100.1 mph) in 2010, which is one of the 3 fastest recorded deliveries which made him join the company of fellow speedstars Brett Lee and Shoaib Akhtar. Tait made his Test debut against England on 25 August 2005 at Trent Bridge and his One Day International debut on 2 February 2007 against England at the Sydney Cricket Ground in the 2006–07 Commonwealth Bank Series. In 2008, he had taken a short sabbatical from cricket citing mental and physical fatigue. He had stated “A break from professional cricket will hopefully give me a clear mind and a chance for my body to rest and recover”. However, he returned to professional cricket soon after. He has represented Australia in 3 Tests, 35 ODIs and 21 T20Is taking 5, 62 and 28 wickets respectively.
Shaun Tait and his Indian model wife Mashoom Singha had a fairy tale wedding. They met at an IPL after party and things just clicked and they got married in 2014. Tait claims that he loves the perks of being an Indian son-in-law. He loves being pampered by his mother in law who also occasionally cooks for him. Life is very different in the hills of Adelaide if we compare it to the hustle and bustle of Mumbai but he still considers Mumbai his 2nd home and loves spending family time there.