Yesterday’s USA v/s Pakistan match was nothing short of a monumental upset, as a new team soundly defeated a stronger team Pakistan. The Mumbai-born cricketer Saurabh Netravalkar played a crucial role in ensuring his team win.
As the match concluded in a tie, Netravalkar was tasked with defending 18 runs in the one-over eliminator.
But despite the obstacles, he still maintained his calm and remained cool headed and bowled with precision. Thus, conceding only 13 runs.
Early in 2009, Saurabh Netravalkar joined NCA in Bengaluru on Air India’s sports scholarship. Where with his skilled bowling, managed to rattle Yuvraj Singh’s stumps. As a result, he managed to get a spot in prestigious BCCI Corporate Trophy.
Despite being facing cricket stalwarts like Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni, Netravalkar ended the tournament tied as the top wicket-taker.
Harboring the dream to play for India, Netravalkar left his Computer Engineering degree’s first semester exams to participate in the 2010 U-19 World Cup.
Later playing for India in U-19 World Cup, he displayed his prowess as left-arm pacer, who can generate pace and bounce on various fields, a skill he applied with precision against Pakistan.
Even though, Netravalkar hoped, that nine wickets for India, will earn him senior Mumbai cap or IPL contract. But it wasn’t easy to enter inside the team, which consisted of the likes of Ajit Agarkar, Zaheer Khan, Aavishkar Salvi and Dhawal Kulkarni.
However, he got the opportunity in 2013, where he got to play Ranji encounter for Mumbai.
But this proved to be a one-time wonder. Later, he accepted the offer from Cornell University in august 2015, which he got owing to his good academic background and strong sports background.
After completing his college, he later got the job at Oracle in San Francisco. After settling in US, Netravalkar started playing in weekend recreational cricket as a means to ‘fit in with the Indian community’.
Then in 2016, He represented the Northwest Region at the USACA National Championship. The ICC’s decision to reduce the minimum residency requirement for eligibility to represent a country from four years to three allowed Netravalkar to play for USA.
A year later in 2017, he participated in a match between Southern California Cricket Association XI and USA XI, impressing the then-coach Pubudu Dassanayake.
Shortly after, he made his debut for the USA, taking 2/45 against Leeward Islands in January 2018.
After 14 years, in an ironic twist of fate, Netravalkar denied Pakistan its first win, just as Pakistan had defeated India in the 2010 quarterfinal where Netravalkar and the young Babar Azam were on opposite sides.