India National Cricket Teamand the Japan National Cricket Team are set to play a one-off T20I match on September 22 at the Sano International Cricket Ground in Tochigi, Japan. It is going to be a historic landmark in international cricket, as both of the teams will meet for the first time in an official international match.
Ahead of the clash, a video involving a Japanese cricketer named Abhishek Anand grabbed the Indian cricket fans’ attention. In a viral video, Anand, who is originally from Bihar, said, “Bihari kahan nahi hai bhai, becomes the highlight before the historic clash. Through recent interviews, Anand commented on the impact of Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and his journey in Japan as a cricketer.
Japan cricketer Abhishek Anand opens up on Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s craze
Abhishek Anand told RevSportz in an online interaction, mentioned that the impact of the 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is massive. After what he did in the Indian Premier League and with the Indian National Cricket Team at such a young age, everyone is crazy for him and wants to meet him as well.
“His craze is on another level altogether. The kind of impact he has made worldwide, there is no one who doesn’t know about him or who doesn’t want to meet him. Everyone has become crazy about him worldwide right now, all the people, even in the Japan team,” Anand stated.
https://x.com/CricCrazyJohns/status/2101978103765770747
Who is Abhishek Anand? The Bihar-born Japan cricketer
Anand, who is currently a cricketer on the Japan cricket team, is actually hailing from Bihar’s Rohtas district. He moved to Japan for employment after completing his Chemistry degree at IIT Kanpur. Despite taking up a job, Abhishek Anand kept his love for cricket intact, which eventually led him to the Japan national cricket team.
Abhishek made his T20I debut against the Cook Islands on May 9, 2025. He has since played 18 T20Is, scoring 275 runs, including a highest score of 55, and taking one wicket.
For the match against India, Japan announced a 15-member team. Anand, however, is not a part of the squad.
“My journey to Japan has been quite unbelievable” – Abhishek Anand
Speaking to the news agency IANS, the Bihar-born stated that his journey to Japan has been pretty unbelievable, as he never expected to get a chance to play for the national cricket team of the nation. In the interview, he explained how he got placed from college and then moved to Japan, and after that, he eventually went to play for the national side.
“My journey to Japan has been quite unbelievable, and I never expected to play for the Japan national team. During our college placements, Japanese companies visited, and although I hadn’t planned on going abroad—wishing instead to remain in India to pursue both my job and cricket—I decided to give the interviews a shot and got selected for Accenture Japan,” Abhishek Anand expressed.
“Given two hours to decide whether to accept the offer, I researched cricket in Japan and found that their team had qualified for the East Asia-Pacific World Cup Qualifier, which gave me hope. I accepted the offer, moved to Japan, joined the Tokyo Falcons Cricket Club, and played for three years before the Japan Cricket Association(JCA) recognized my performance and selected me for the national team in 2025,” he added.
https://x.com/ians_india/status/2101804765718147196
Source: cricketaddictor.com
