Who is Saurabh Netravalkar who defeated Pakistan: Played Under-19 World Cup for India, went to America when he did not get further chance

Saurabh Netravalkar with his mother and wife after helping America win the match against Pakistan.

Saurabh Netravalkar… This name has been in the headlines since the USA-Pakistan match on Thursday. This 32-year-old Indian-origin bowler snatched victory from the jaws of Pakistan in this T20 World Cup match. Saurabh defended 18 runs in the super over against big-hitters like Fakhar Zaman, Iftikhar Ahmed and Shadab Khan.

Saurabh was born in India and made headlines by taking 30 wickets in the 2008 Cooch Behar Trophy. He also played for India in the Under-19 World Cup in 2010. This team also included Indian senior team players like KL Rahul, Harshal Patel, Jaydev Unadkat and Mayank Agarwal. Let’s know about Saurabh’s feat and his story…

Rizwan and Iftikhar were sent to the pavilion in the match
Saurabh bowled in the first innings at the Dallas ground. He got opener Mohammad Rizwan caught by Stephen Taylor in the second over and gave the first blow to Pakistan. He then got Iftikhar LBW on the first ball of the 19th over and did not let Pakistan score a big score.

18 runs defended in the super over
After the match was tied after 20-20 overs, USA batted first in the super over and scored 18 runs. After this, USA captain Monak Patel handed the ball to Saurabh. Fakhar Zaman and Iftikhar Ahmed came against him. Both are known for hitting big shots in cricket. Saurabh held the line of the wide yorker here and stopped Pakistan from winning the match by giving only 13 runs in 6 balls.

Born in Mumbai; Did not work for 2 years for cricket, then made Ranji debut
Left-arm fast bowler Saurabh Netravalkar was born on 16 October 1991 in Mumbai. He was fond of studying along with cricket since childhood. He studied engineering from Sardar Patel Institute of Technology, Mumbai.

Saurabh said in an interview, ‘In 2013, I got an engineering job in Pune, then I decided that I will not work for at least 2 years and will give time to cricket. I wanted to get selected in the Mumbai team and in the same year I made my debut with the Mumbai Ranji team.’

I left cricket when I didn’t get a chance, I even made an app on it
Saurabh kept trying for 2 years, but there was so much competition for the playing-11 of Mumbai’s Ranji team that he could not secure his place in the team. He did not get a chance in IPL as well. His place in the Ranji team was not confirmed, and he did not see any way to play for India in the future. Due to this, he left cricket at the age of 23 and increased his focus on studies.

In 2015, as a backup option, Saurabh gave the exam for a master’s degree in the US and passed it. He got admission in Cornell University in New York, which is among the top universities for computer science. After completing his studies, Saurabh got a job in Oracle, America’s top software company. In the company, Saurabh also created a mobile app related to cricket.

He continued playing cricket in USA as well, 5 days job, 2 days cricket
Even after moving to America, Saurabh continued playing cricket. He joined a college club and started playing for fun. After getting a job at Oracle, Saurabh moved to San Francisco. There were club cricket tournaments every Saturday and Sunday. Saurabh used to work for 5 days and play matches on Saturdays and Sundays. He used to drive for about 6 hours to reach Los Angeles on Saturday and return on Sunday.

In 2018, Saurabh completed 3 years in America and got the recognition to play from America. The American team went to Los Angeles for training, here the coach liked Saurabh’s game and he included Saurabh in the team.

Became captain of the US team in 2019
Saurabh became the captain of America just a year after making it to the national team. During this time, Saurabh also participated in Major League Cricket i.e. MLC, CPL and ILT20. Saurabh also played the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Global Qualifier-B tournament in Zimbabwe in 2022. Here he took 5 wickets in an innings and became the first American bowler to take 5 wickets in a match.