Saurabh Netravalkar: Former Indian cricketer from the United States

In 2015, Saurabh Netravalkar gave up his dream of becoming a professional cricketer in India and moved to the United States to work as a software engineer.

“For me cricket was over. There was no hope or expectation left that I would ever play again,” he says.

Nearly a decade later, on Wednesday, he will face the Indian cricket team in a T20 World Cup match at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York.

But he will do so as part of the U.S. team.

Netravalkar said the match would be an “emotional moment” for the former cricketer, who played for India’s under-19 national team, as he works towards his dream of qualifying for the World Cup.

“A lot of my former teammates are now playing for India,” he told the BBC.

But he’s not fazed by the prospect of playing against his friends in an important match.

He is full of confidence, as was evident in his flawless bowling in the Super Over last week that led the United States to a historic win over Pakistan.

Netravalkar’s story is also a story of tenacity, love for cricket and the American dream.

Born and raised in Mumbai, Netravalkar started playing cricket when he was just 10 years old.

His family lived in Malad, a suburb in the west of the city. After a successful teenage career, he was selected for India’s Under-19 World Cup in New Zealand in 2010.

The tall left-arm fast bowler was India’s leading wicket-taker during the tournament.

Over the next few years, Netravalkar juggled his cricketing pursuits with studying to become an engineer, graduating in 2013.

The bowler then reportedly decided to focus on cricket for two years, during which he tried to earn a place in the national team and the Mumbai cricket team.

“I [Mumbai] “I got into the team too. But I couldn’t cement my place or even play in the Indian Premier League (IPL),” he said.

A cricketer’s career usually begins at the age of 23, but Netravalkar says he decided to retire from the sport at that point.

“I was torn between two ideas: should I continue with cricket or should I focus on studies?” he says.

In 2015, he began studying at Cornell University in the US to earn a degree in computer science. “It was a difficult decision,” he says.

But he couldn’t give up on his cricketing dreams completely.

While studying engineering in India, he developed CricDeCode, an app that helps cricketers analyse matches.

At Cornell, Netravalkar watched students play cricket and joined a club to participate in intercollegiate tournaments.

Immediately after graduation, Netravalkar got a job at software giant Oracle and moved to California.

In San Francisco, Netravalkar started playing club cricket. “We had tournaments on the weekends. I’d work five days and play on Saturday and Sunday.”

It was a long way from professional cricket, but it was still a chance to take part in the game.

“We don’t have a proper pitch in San Francisco yet – we play on an artificial turf pitch, it’s like a synthetic mat,” he says, “but in Los Angeles there’s a dirt pitch in a park – it’s like the Maidan.” [a famous park] In Mumbai.”

Every Friday evening, he would drive six hours to Los Angeles for Saturday’s game, then return to San Francisco for Sunday’s game.

“At the club [in Los Angeles]”There were three or four players on the US team at the time,” he says, “and then I discovered there was a cricket team in the US.”

“There were domestic tournaments taking place over the long weekend, mainly in Florida, with players from the West Indies also taking part.”

Although these tournaments provided a good platform, Netravalkar still wasn’t dreaming of playing for the U.S. national team.

“I was on a student visa and then I got a work visa, so playing for a team was out of the question.”

The International Cricket Council (ICC), which governs cricket worldwide, also had a rule requiring Netravalkar to have lived in the US for seven years and be a permanent resident.

However, in 2018 the rules were changed and Netravalkar was selected for the US cricket team. In 2019, the ICC granted international T20 status to all associate members, including the US.

“A lot of people think it’s easier to be unknown and play for a team that’s not likely to win,” he says.

“But here it’s even more of an uphill struggle. Playing in an associate member state is difficult because of the lack of basic infrastructure,” he explains.

All of the players on the U.S. team have full-time jobs and family responsibilities.

“So we practice indoors from 7 to 9 p.m.”

In a country like the United States, distances make it even more difficult to get players from different locations to play together.

So the team usually meets and practices 10 days before the tournament.

The U.S. overcame those obstacles to progress from the top division of junior cricket to this year’s T20 World Cup. They have already qualified for the 2026 World Cup.

“The standard of local cricket here has gone up,” Netravalkar said.

“The major and minor leagues have made a big difference because it’s given me the opportunity to play with the best players. They’ve built better grounds and the pitches have improved.”

The country’s cricket academies are also grooming new players.

Despite a growing cricket following in places like California, Netravalkar said cricket in the U.S. faces a tough road ahead.

“There’s only one tournament a year where you play five matches in seven days, so everything you’ve worked hard for over the year is put to the test in those five days.”

“If we win, we move on. If not, there’s nothing.”

Prior to this T20 World Cup, the United States had a confidence boost with a series win against Bangladesh.

They beat Canada in their first match of the tournament and then pulled off a major upset by beating Pakistan.

Netravalkar is now preparing to take on his old teammate from India in Wednesday’s match.

“It’s good to be reunited with them and I’m happy for what they have achieved for India and in the IPL,” he says.

Despite facing a star-studded team, Netravalkar is optimistic about his team’s chances of victory.

“They are [India] “We practiced for hours but the resources were very limited. But in T20 you never know what’s going to happen,” he said.

“We’re positive. We’ll do our best in these three hours.”