Dan Christian

Daniel Christian has become a global T20 gun-for-hire after spending most of his career in and around the Australia team without really earning a permanent place. An allrounder who can bat in the top six and provide a valuable extra seam option, Christian started at New South Wales, moved to South Australia and then shifted to Victoria ahead of the 2013-14 season. During that summer he was called into Australia's ODI and T20 sides and made the squad for the 2014 World T20 in Bangladesh. He had made his T20 international debut four years earlier and has since become a perennial winner at T20 tournaments. He has played for 16 different franchises in tournaments all over the world, making 11 finals and winning a staggering seven titles. He was Player of the Match in the 2018-19 BBL final for the Melbourne Renegades.

At his best, Christian offers the complete package of clean-hitting with the bat, a wicket-taking knack with the ball and sharp work in the field. He was called into Australia's Test squad during the home series against India in 2011-12 but was not given a baggy green. The previous summer he had been South Australia's leading run scorer and second top wicket-taker in the Ryobi Cup, and he also filled in as the state's captain. His second move, to Victoria, came after a 2012-13 season in which he was suspended by South Australia after three outbursts in which he damaged change-rooms following his dismissals.

Christian is also notable as one of the few players of Aboriginal heritage to reach the elite level. A graduate of Cricket Australia's indigenous cricket program and captain of the national indigenous development squad during a tour of England in 2009, Christian is from the Wiradjuri tribe in New South Wales. He also captained Australia's Aboriginal XI on the 2018 tour of England to commemorate 150 years since the first indigenous Australian team toured the UK.
ESPNcricinfo staff