Saurabh Netravalkar: The US cricketer who once played for India

Saurabh Netravalkar left his desire to play professional cricket in India in 2015 and relocated to the US to function as a software engineer.

” Cricket was over for me,” he declared. I had no wish or desire left to play again”, he says.

On Wednesday, nearly a century later, he will experience the Indian cricket team in a T20 World Cup match at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium, New York.

But he will do it as a member of the US group.

As he embarks on his World Cup vision, Netravalkar says the fit will be an “emotional time” for a bowler who previously played for India’s Under- 19 group.

” Some of my former group- companions are then playing for India”, he tells the BBC.

But he is unconvinced by the chance of playing against his associates in a critical match.

He is full of confidence and it showed in his impeccable bowling last week in a super over that led the US to a historic win against Pakistan.

Netravalkar’s is a story of resilience, a love for baseball and, moreover, the American vision.

Netravalkar, who was ten when he first started playing baseball, was born and raised in Mumbai.

In Malad, a district in the city’s northern piece, his family resided. After some amazing shows as a student, he was picked to signify India in the 2010 Under- 19 World Cup in New Zealand.

The Indian team’s leading wicket-taker of the game was the taller, left-handed fast bowler.

Netravalkar worked out a balance between his desire to play baseball and pursue a career as an engineer before earning his engineering degree in 2013.

After that, the spinner says he decided to concentrate on bowling, giving himself two times. He made an effort to be a part of both the national staff and the Mumbai baseball team during this time.

” I got into the]Mumbai] club too. But I could n’t cement my place or even get into the Indian Premier League ( IPL)”, he says.

A cricketer’s profession typically starts at 23. Netravalkar claims that at that time he made the decision to leave the game.

” I was in two thoughts. Should I focus on my studies or play baseball? he says.

He began his studies at Cornell University in the US in 2015 to pursue a degree in computer science. ” It was a tough choice”, he says.

But he was unable to give up on his cricketing goals.

During his day as an executive scholar in India, he’d previously developed CricDeCode, an app to help bowlers analyse their sport.

At Cornell, Netravalkar saw students enjoy bowling and joined a membership to participate in multi- university tournaments.

Soon after graduating, Netravalkar got a work with technology big Oracle and moved to California.

In San Francisco, Netravalkar began playing league baseball. ” They had trip games. I do work five days a week and perform on Saturday and Sunday.

Although it was far from expert baseball, it was still a chance to play the game.

” San Francisco still does n’t have proper pitches. They play on an arbitrary angle that’s more like a chemical mat”, he says. ” But they had soil pitches in a park in Los Angeles- it’s like the Maidan]a famous park ] in Mumbai”.

He may travel for six days to Los Angeles every Friday night to play a game on Saturday. Then he’d travel back to San Francisco on Sunday to enjoy a game there.

” In the club]in Los Angeles], there were three to four people who were part of the American team”, he says. ” It was then that I realized that America had a bowling team.”

” On much vacation, they organised games in the country, largely in Florida, where yet people from the West Indies would participate”.

Those competitions provided a good starting place, but Netravalkar was still not hoping to play for the US national staff.

” I was previously on a work visa and a student card. Therefore, it was unavoidable to play for the team.

The International Cricket Council ( ICC), which governs the sport globally, had a law that required Netravalkar to have resided in the US for seven years and be a permanent resident.

However, in 2018, the law changed, and Netravalkar was chosen for the US baseball group. In 2019, the ICC even gave foreign T20 standing to all its associate people, including the US.

” Several think it’s easier to play for mysterious groups that are considered losers”, he says.

” But the battle is even more difficult below. Playing for interact countries is tough because they lack simple infrastructure”, he explains.

All participants in the US team likewise have total- time jobs and balance family responsibilities.

” So we practise home from 7- 9pm”.

Distance adds to the difficulty of bringing players from various backgrounds to sing along in a nation like the US.

The crew typically meets 10 times before a competition to exercise.

The US made it through these obstacles to play the T20 World Cup this year, moving from the lower divisions of equate cricket. They are now a part of the World Cup’s 2026 selection process.

” The standard of local bowling these has increased,” Netravalkar claims.

Because they gave us a chance to enjoy with major people, the difference between the big league and minor league was significant. Better batters are being created, and the conditions are improving.

Cricket schools around the nation are also training new people.

Netravalkar contends that US baseball faces a challenging road ahead as the game gains more fan base in places like California.

There is only one game each year where you can perform five fits in seven days. So all of our work throughout the year are put to the test in only those five days.

” If you win, then you can move forward. Or more there’s nothing”.

Before this T20 World Cup, the US hit Bangladesh in a line which boosted their confidence.

Finally, in the first game of this event, they defeated Canada before going on to unhappy Pakistan.

Netravalkar is then getting ready to confront his former team-mates from India in a Wednesday game.

He says,” It is great to communicate with them and I’m glad for what they have accomplished for India and the IPL,” he says.

Despite facing a superstar- studded group, Netravalkar is enthusiastic about his player’s odds.

” They] India ] practise for hours and we had very limited resources. But whatever may occur in T20″, he says.

” We are good. We did do our best to stay there for three days.