Shastri, Ganguly, Kohli: India’s Remarkable Cricketing Connections with Wales
INDIA and Wales may be separated by thousands of miles, but put a cricket bat between them and the distance suddenly becomes considerably smaller.
Some of the biggest names in Indian cricket have played in Wales. Others have actually played for Wales’s only first-class county.
Ravi Shastri spent four seasons with Glamorgan. Sourav Ganguly resurrected his career in Cardiff and Swansea. Shubman Gill briefly wore Glamorgan colours before developing into one of India’s leading players. Virat Kohli scored an ODI century in Cardiff.
And long before any of them, a cricketer from Usk produced one of the great innings by a Welshman in India.
The cricketing relationship between Wales and India stretches back generations – and contains rather more stories than many supporters on either side may realise.
Allan Watkins – the Welsh hero in Delhi
We can begin not with an Indian player in Wales, but a Welshman in India.
Allan Watkins, born in Usk and one of Glamorgan’s finest all-rounders, toured India with England in 1951–52.
In the opening Test in Delhi, England were in serious trouble before Watkins produced an extraordinary act of defiance. He batted for around nine hours, making an unbeaten 137 and helping England escape with a draw.
It was no isolated contribution. Watkins finished the five-Test series as England’s leading run-scorer with 450 runs. Glamorgan’s archive records that he was subsequently named Indian Cricket Cricketer of the Year.
For a player whose career was centred overwhelmingly on Welsh county cricket, it remains an extraordinary overseas chapter.
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When India came to Glamorgan
Touring international teams once regularly played the English counties between Test matches, and India made Wales a familiar stopping point.
The connection goes back at least to 1946, when the Indian tourists played Glamorgan at Cardiff Arms Park. India returned to the Arms Park in 1952 and again in 1959.
The 1959 encounter became particularly memorable.
Glamorgan were without several senior players and captain Wilf Wooller, leaving Watkins to lead an inexperienced side against the tourists.
Jim Pressdee responded by making his maiden first-class century, before Glamorgan established a first-innings advantage. Watkins then made 61 in the second innings and India were set 294 to win.
At 193 for three, with Datta Gaekwad and Chandu Borde having added 129, the tourists appeared well placed.
Then the match changed completely.
A run-out, a fine Peter Walker catch and wickets for Jim McConnon and Don Ward triggered a collapse, and Glamorgan defeated India by 51 runs at Cardiff Arms Park.
India even played Glamorgan twice during that 1959 tour, returning later in the summer for another match at St Helen’s, Swansea.
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India strike back
There were plenty of return visits.
In 1971 – the year India went on to secure their historic first Test series victory in England – the tourists faced Glamorgan at Sophia Gardens.
This time India won by 102 runs. Farokh Engineer made 62, captain Ajit Wadekar scored 73 in the second innings and Srinivas Venkataraghavan took six wickets in Glamorgan’s first innings.
Eight years later, India played Glamorgan at St Helen’s, Swansea, and won by seven wickets.
That Indian side contained some extraordinary names: Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, Bishan Bedi and Gundappa Viswanath. Anshuman Gaekwad made 109 and Viswanath 112 as India declared on 332 for four.
For Welsh cricket supporters, these were opportunities to watch international greats not on television or thousands of miles away, but on familiar county grounds.
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Ravi Shastri becomes a Glamorgan man
Then the relationship changed.
Instead of Indian players merely touring Wales, one of India’s biggest stars became part of Glamorgan itself.
Ravi Shastri joined Glamorgan in 1987, becoming the first Indian Test cricketer to represent the county.
Over four seasons he became far more than a short-term overseas attraction.
Shastri played 62 first-class matches for Glamorgan, scoring 3,402 runs at an average of 42.53, including six centuries, while also taking 95 wickets. He added almost another 2,000 runs in one-day cricket.
His affection for Wales lasted considerably longer than his playing contract. Speaking years later, Shastri recalled that he had felt at home in Wales and that his time there had changed his life. In 2024, Cardiff Metropolitan University made him an Honorary Fellow.
For many Glamorgan supporters of that generation, Ravi Shastri was not simply an Indian international.
He was one of theirs.
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A teenage Sachin Tendulkar in Swansea
The 1990 India tour provides another wonderful Welsh footnote.
Between the second and third Tests, India travelled to St Helen’s, Swansea, for a three-day match against Glamorgan.
Among the tourists was a teenager who had made his international debut less than a year earlier.
His name was Sachin Tendulkar.
The match, played from 18–20 August 1990, ended in a draw. Tendulkar was still only 17, several years away from becoming arguably the most revered Indian cricketer of his generation.
It means Swansea can be added to the extraordinary list of places that witnessed Tendulkar near the very beginning of his international career.
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Sourav Ganguly comes to Wales
Another future Indian legend arrived in 2005.
Sourav Ganguly joined Glamorgan during a difficult stage of his career, having temporarily lost his place in the Indian side.
His stay was short, but productive.
In just five first-class matches for Glamorgan, Ganguly scored 438 runs at an average of 62.57. His highlight was a superb 142 against Kent at Sophia Gardens.
Glamorgan’s archive remembers him as an enthusiastic team player who supported the county’s younger cricketers and enjoyed the relationship with his new team-mates.
The Welsh stint formed part of a period in which Ganguly successfully worked his way back into international cricket.
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Shubman Gill’s brief Glamorgan chapter
The Indian connection reached another generation in 2022.
Shubman Gill joined Glamorgan for the final weeks of the County Championship season.
He announced himself with 92 on his debut against Worcestershire at Sophia Gardens, then finished his short three-match stay with 244 runs at an average of 61.
His final appearance produced 119 against Sussex at Hove – his first County Championship century.
His Glamorgan career may have been brief, but it means that Shastri, Ganguly and Gill – three very different generations of Indian cricket – can all be found in the county’s record books.
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Virat Kohli makes his mark in Cardiff
Then there is Virat Kohli.
On 16 September 2011, India faced England in a One Day International at Sophia Gardens.
Kohli was only 22.
He made 107 from 93 balls, hitting nine fours and a six. It was just the sixth ODI century of his career.
England eventually won the rain-affected match, but Cardiff had witnessed an early century from a player who would become one of the defining figures of modern cricket – an ‘I was there’ moment for those in attendance that day.
And Kohli was not finished with Wales.
He returned to Sophia Gardens with India in July 2026, making 65 in the second ODI against England. Joe Root’s unbeaten 99 subsequently carried England to a four-wicket victory.
Fifteen years separated those appearances.
Cardiff had seen both the young Kohli on his way up and the global superstar nearing the latter stages of an extraordinary international career.
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Cardiff and India’s Champions Trophy triumph
Sophia Gardens also played a part in one of India’s major tournament victories.
India opened their 2013 ICC Champions Trophy campaign in Cardiff against South Africa.
Shikhar Dhawan scored 114, his maiden ODI century, Rohit Sharma made 65 and India amassed 331 for seven before winning by 26 runs.
MS Dhoni’s side would go on to win the tournament.
A year later, India returned to Cardiff and defeated England by 133 runs under the Duckworth-Lewis method in the second ODI of their 2014 series.
Sophia Gardens has therefore become considerably more than an occasional stop on Indian tours.
It has hosted Indian victories, emerging stars, famous centuries and generations of supporters.
Were Ewe There? If any of these Indian cricketing occasions or solo innings stirs up memories for you, why not drop a comment or e-mail Ewegottalove at ewegottalove.online@gmail.com and share your recollections.
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More than a cricketing curiosity
What makes the Wales–India cricket story so appealing is its continuity.
It stretches from Allan Watkins batting all day in Delhi to Indian touring sides at Cardiff Arms Park; from Gavaskar and Tendulkar at St Helen’s to Shastri, Ganguly and Gill wearing Glamorgan colours; from Kohli’s youthful century to India’s modern visits to Sophia Gardens.
For Indian cricket supporters, Wales has repeatedly appeared somewhere in the background of the story.
For Welsh supporters, India has supplied touring heroes, overseas professionals and unforgettable afternoons.
And with international cricket now firmly established in Cardiff, there is every reason to believe that story still has plenty of overs left.
Read more: Explore Wales and India: Connections Across Continents in our Wales Around the World section.
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Did Ewe Know?
Virat Kohli’s 107 was not the only piece of Indian cricket history made at Sophia Gardens on 16 September 2011.
The same match was Rahul Dravid’s final One Day International for India. He scored 69 and shared a 170-run partnership with Kohli – meaning one Indian legend was signing off in Cardiff while another was still establishing himself.