'Joe Root has taken me under his wing' – Jason Sangha

Playing for Sydney Thunder, the 19-year-old Sangha struck a blazing 36-ball 63, which was studded with four fours and as many sixes in his first BBL match, becoming the youngest player to hit a half-century in the tournament.

Playing alongside the likes of England's Jos Buttler and Joe Root, and Australia's Shane Watson, Sangha has been enjoying watching the experienced batsmen closely, especially Root.

"Joe's been amazing," Sangha told cricket.com.au. "Joe's taken me under his wing and I've absolutely chewed his brain.

"Joe's been great, so has 'Watto', so has Jos. All of those guys have given me a lot of information in terms of T20 cricket and how to go about it. I've just been watching those guys in the nets so much. Yesterday, those three were batting in the nets at the same time, I was just watching them and how they go about their innings."

Nepal's Sandeep Lamichhane snared two crucial wickets of Watson and Callum Ferguson, while Adam Zampa sent Buttler and Root back to the pavilion.

When Sangha came in to bat, Sydney were on 59/3. He anchored the innings and with a handy contribution from Daniel Sams (34 from 21), powered his side to 181/5, which was enough for them to seal a 15-run win on DLS method in a rain-affected match against Melbourne Stars.

The Sams-led bowling attack then reduced Melbourne to 74/6 in eight overs before the rain arrived at the Manuka Oval.

"I was just soaking it all in really … I was batting with one of my idols Joe Root, so it couldn't really get better really for a BBL debut," Sangha said.

"I loved it. Joe was batting with me, he was just very calming, keeping my nerves down. I was just so excited. He was very good, we kept talking about making sure we go deep (into the innings).

"If we had wickets at the back end, we knew we had 'Samsy' … to come in with some firepower as well. All the boys made my job really easy."