New Delhi: When the thought of moving abroad came, 22-year-old Saurabh Netravalkar thought that his cricketing dreams would go for a toss. However, here he is 10 years later navigating through his job and his dream to play cricket, to become the poster boy of American cricket.
Netravalkar started his career with the Mumbai Ranji team. Eventually, he ended up playing in the U-19 team of India as well as the Vijay Hazare Trophy. However, with no certainty for a future in cricket in India, Saurabh made the tough call to traverse the high seas and seek his future in America. Saurabh earned a scholarship from the prestigious Cornell University and decided to complete his studies first. Subsequently, he earned his degree and joined Oracle.
Amidst all the academic success and pressure of the job, cricket seemed to take a backseat. However, when he was thinking of giving up on his dream Lloyd Jodah, a West Indian inspired him to make a comeback to cricket. “There was a coach named Lloyd Jodah who saw me bowl and asked whether I played decent cricket….” Since then, it has been a long journey and Saurabh has never looked back.
Monank Patel’s out due to a niggle, Aaron Jones will lead USA https://t.co/8sphz4eOUz
— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) June 12, 2024
“I’m happy for him…”- Saurabh Netravalkar
Talking about his childhood in Mumbai, Saurabh remembers vividly the time when he played for Mumbai State. Saurabh had befriended Suryakumar Yadav back then.”Suryakumar has been a close friend. I’ve seen him since our under-15 days…”
#TeamIndia faces co-hosts #USA in the quest to secure a spot in the Super 8s 💪🏽@harbhajan_singh puts the spotlight on two Mumbai boys, #SaurabhNetravalkar and @ImRo45 as the potential x-factors for their teams 👀#USAvIND | TODAY, 6 PM | #T20WorldCupOnStar pic.twitter.com/hGJasHpa0r
— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) June 12, 2024
Adding on, Netravalkar remarked that Surya got a chance much later than he had anticipated given the plethora of talents that Surya had. On the other hand, Netravalkar says that even though Surya and he were friends at one point in time, the former understands the duty that he has towards his current team.
#T20worldcup2024 #INDvsUSA #USAvsIND
Arshdeep Singh picks 2 wickets in 1st over vs United States in New York
FOLLOW LIVE: https://t.co/Srts38zCkv
— Express Sports (@IExpressSports) June 12, 2024
With a crucial powerplay over at the back of the last match and a relatively decent performance in the two games so far that the USA has played, Netravalkar can turn out to be one of the pivotal players for the USA’s success this year.