Saurabh Netravalkar, the USA’s cricketer played in the match against Bangladesh and be a part of the US in the match against India in the T20 World Cup 2024 on Wednesday, 12 June. Interestingly, in the interview, Saurabh told he used to play cricket for India in the International Tournament once. Here are the details.
Saurabh Netravalkar Basic Info
Saurabh Naresh Netravalkar, born on October 16, 1991, is a software engineer and an Indian-born cricketer who now playing for the USA cricket team. Born and raised in Mumbai, Saurabh started playing cricket at 10. The USA’s star made a surprise in the interview during the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup before the match against India. In the interview, Saurabh Netravalkar said he used to play for India and even in international tournaments, but then he decided to let his passion aside and come to the USA to start his software career.
Start Cricket Career In 2010
The 32 years old cricketer said he is even an old teammate of senior Indian stars KL Rahul, Harshal Patel, Sandeep Sharma, Jaydev Unadkat and Mayank Agarwal. Saurabh played for the Indian U19 team in World Cup 2010 in New Zealand and was leading the wicker-taker of the tournament for India. At this point, he studied at the Sardar Patel Institute of Technology and graduated in 2013.
Decided to Focus on Study
After the U19 World Cup 2010, Saurabh Netravalkar made his first-class debut in the Ranji Trophy 2013-2014 and his List A Debut in the Vijay Hazare Trophy in the same season for Mumbai but did not attract any attention from the selectors. Later he decided to pursue a Master’s degree in Computer Engineering at Cornell University and move to the United States in 2015.
“I was picked for the Mumbai squad, but couldn’t cement my position or be picked for the IPL (Indian Premier League). Then, my mind split in two: one was to pursue cricket and two was to focus on my studies. It was a most difficult decision”
Saurabh Netravalkar saids about his decision.
Never Let Go the Passion for Cricket
After moving to the US as an engineering student in India, with a strong passion for cricket, Saurabh Netravalkar developed CricDeCode. This app helps cricketers analyze their game and combines his education as a computer engineer with knowledge of cricket. This app is perfect for cricketers to plan their strategies and stay in control of the game.
“I didn’t want to waste the time of engineering studies and give up my cricket passion” – Saurabh said.
At Cornell, Netravalkar was surprised when he saw some students here playing cricket, then he joined a club to play in inter-college tournaments. After graduating in 2015, Saurabh Netravalkar moved to San California to work for Software Giant Oracle. In San Francisco, Saurabh started playing club cricket despite the game not having a proper pitch at that time.
“We had some tournaments in weekend, so I will work 5 days and play cricket on Saturday and Sunday. San Francisco still doesn’t have any proper pitches at that time. We played on an artificial field like a synthetic mat.”
Saurabh Netravalkar said about the first days of playing cricket on America.
Cricket’s Fire Still Burn
Later, Saurabh Netravalkar’s club found a soil pitch in Los Angeles, which is suitable for playing cricket. With a strong passion for the sport, he drove for six hours to Los Angeles to play a match on Saturday and then returned to work in San Francisco the day after every week at that time.
“They found a soil pitch in a park in Los Angeles and it looked like the Maidan in Mumbai. In the club, three or four players were playing for American teams. At that time I just knew that America played cricket. On almost every weekend, we have tournaments in the country. There is Florida, where many players from West Indies play in.”
Saurabh Netravalkar share a short of his cricket stories.
Play For the Nation
Saurabh said that he never had a thought about playing for the USA national cricket team: “I was on a student visa, and then lived on a working visa. There is no sign that I can play for the national team.“
However, due to the change in the ICC’s rules, Netravalkar was picked for the US cricket team, and the US team will be participating in the T20 international series.
Saurabh Netravalkar made his ODI debut for the USA on April 27, 2019, T20I debut on March 15, 2019. He played for Silicon Valley Strikers during the Minor League Cricket Pacific Conference final in North Carolina in 2022. Saurabh played a crucial role in the T20 World Cup 2024 match against Pakistan in the Super Over to secure a win for the USA.
The First Struggle in the US Cricket
In the beginning, USA Cricket met many struggles to improve the quality of players for the sport. The United States is the largest nation in the world, besides China and Russia, so distance is one of the biggest problems for bringing players from different states to play together in one team, all players also have full-time jobs and family responsibilities.
The main problem is the United States still did not have enough infrastructure for cricket at that time. The lack of basic infrastructure has caused massive difficulty for the national team.
“Many others think it’s easier to play for a low-key team that is considered an underdog. The problem here is playing for associate countries is difficult, but it’s even more difficult because they lack the basic infrastructure. So that we must practice indoors from 7 to 9 PM”
Saurabh said about the first difficult of USA Cricket.
Everything Starting Better
The USA overcame the struggle and kept progressing to reach the upper decisions of associate cricket. Proof is they were able to be the co-host of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024. They have already qualified for the World Cup 2026 as well.
“The standard of local cricket here has gone up. Being played in the Major and Minor leagues has made a huge difference for the team. They gave us a chance to play with top players, so we can improve ourselves. There are also better grounds being made and the pitches is better by the time.”
Saurabh Netravalkar.
Meet Again the Old Friends for the First Time
In the T20 World Cup 2024, the USA encountered India in the 25th match on 12 June. This is the first clash of the two teams, as well as the reunion between Saurabh Netravalkar with his old teammates. After playing a crucial role in the team’s triumph against Pakistan, Netravalkar has had a stunning performance, shocking the world with a golden duck to successfully dismiss Indian Star Virat Kohli, and sending Rohit Sharma out of the pitch with just 3 runs scored. However, USA still lost the match in the chase when they couldn’t defend against India’s attack.
In just 2 wickets, Saurabh became the hot search on every platform, he successfully wrote his name down in cricket history.
Conclusion
Saurabh Netravalkar is a great example of the balance between passion and career. His unwavering passion, never-give-up spirit and ability to balance his career and passion made him deserve to be the “Most successful person in the world“.
