Former Australian cricketer Shane Watson calls India his 'second home'; here's why

Shane Watson (Pic: File Pic)

India is no less than a second home to many overseas cricketers, including the Australians who have seen the likes of Brett Lee share his love for the country in the past.

Unsurprisingly, Australia's star all-rounder Shane Watson also shared the same sentiment during a recent I-Day celebration as Indians across the world celebrated their 80th Independence Day on August 15.

The former all-rounder said that he has never taken the connection and impact the Indian people had on his career for granted.

"It's always a special time for me to be in an event or around an event like this, to be celebrating the 80th Independence Day, of India, and just to know the incredible connection and the impact that, that the Indian people, the Indian public, the impact that it's had on my life and my career as well is something that I've never ever taken for granted and events like this make it so special to be able to know the, the fortunate career that I've had up to date, but still been able to share the love of the game of cricket that I've always had," he said in a video posted on social media by The Australia Today.

The all-rounder said India, who has played in the country throughout his career at the international level and league level, said India gave him a home-like feeling.

"It really does feel like a second home. It's an interesting thing. I was fortunate enough to have played cricket for Australia for quite a long time, but I always felt a lot more welcome in India. And whether it was because of... fortunately the IPL came along in 2008, and, that was a time where I was able to, have some really good performances at an important time in my career," said Watson.

The former cricketer also said that he never felt judged in India following his performances on the field.

"But from that moment on, I really did feel a lot more support. Obviously, there's a lot more people in India who do love cricket compared to here in Australia, but I always felt that I was never really judged as much in India. It was more the support, people appreciating what I did whereas, back here in Australia, if things were going well, the support was normally good, if things weren't going so well, it was a little bit more judgmental," he said.

(With ANI Inputs)