T20 WC: Saurabh Netravalkar Set For Emotional Wankhede Stadium Return With USA

T20 WC: Saurabh Netravalkar set for emotional Wankhede Stadium return with USA (Image Source: IANS)

When Saurabh Netravalkar: When Saurabh Netravalkar first learnt the India-USA fixture in the 2026 Men's T20 World Cup would be at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, it hit him hard. As a teenager in eighth grade, he made his first trip to the iconic venue.

Whenever the train passed by the stadium, glimpses of the pitch through the window fuelled his dreams of playing professional cricket. On Saturday, that dream comes true - just not how the teenaged Netravalkar imagined it - wearing USA's navy blue and red as their pace spearhead in the away team dressing room.

“I was secretly hoping I would get to play on Wankhede, preferably with India. As a child, I grew up dreaming to play for India at Wankhede. But the dream is going to come true in playing for the USA. Still it’s going to be even more special, because it's like a full circle moment where I had actually given up on the game and then had to restart everything from scratch.

“I thought I had to again work my way up the rankings in USA, get noticed and then getting picked in the team and again playing internationally - it's been a long journey again, more than 7-8 years for USA itself I've been playing. So, no words to describe actually. I was emotional when I saw that - took some time to sink in, and shared with my family that it’s happening in Wankhede,” recalls Netravalkar in an exclusive conversation with IANS.

In USA’s warm-up games at the DY Patil Stadium, Netravalkar’s family – his parents, sister, wife and daughter - made their presence felt and the same will be the case on Saturday. “It will be a special feeling for sure. Getting to play alongside, again in the Indian team, quite a few players from Mumbai – Surya (India captain Suryakumar Yadav), Shivam (Dube), who I've played with in Mumbai as well - it will be special to play against them as well and we'll see how we go,” he added.

Netravalkar has picked 40 wickets in 41 T20Is for USA at an average of 22.9, and economy rate of 6.9. Half of those wickets came in the powerplay where he swings the ball back into right-handers with menacing precision. Against India at the 2024 World Cup in New York, he dismissed Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli to finish with 2-18 in four overs.

USA surprised all by reaching the Super Eights in their maiden T20 World Cup campaign and the side will depend on Netravalkar again to make big strikes in the 1-6 and 17-20 overs. Though Netravalkar played in the 2010 Men’s U19 World Cup for India and created a cricket app called CricDecode (was available on Google play store), he departed for the USA in 2015 for further engineering studies and landed a job with software giant Oracle in California.

Netravalkar thought he closed the chapter on professional cricket for good, but discovered a path was there to pursue the sport again in USA. It also helped that the ICC eligibility rules for representing an associate team were reduced from seven to three years. “I started playing weekend-to-weekend club cricket for fun. In my club, incidentally, there were a few players who were part of the then USA national team. They explained to me the circuit and I started playing tournaments around the USA.

“It was still for fun, but that's how I started using my weekends more and started training hard again. But international cricket happened in 2019 when I made my debut for USA. USA was in Division 3 at that time, a pretty low down in the ranking. But we had that opportunity to get the team up.

“That awakened another dream that if we keep working hard, the team keeps getting better and better, we can one day aim to play a major tournament. Gradually we moved up the ranks, got ODI status, and had Major League Cricket happen in USA in 2021.

“That gave us a huge boost again to play alongside top cricketers and for top franchises. Then our game really improved in those two-three years. We got our opportunity to host World Cup and then just things exponentially grew and grabbed on to those opportunities as well,” he added.

While cricketers in other nations are full-time players, Netravalkar juggles playing international cricket with his job in California - managing training around work hours and taking vacation time during World Cups.

“It's usually case by case basis. At home, obviously I manage my training around my work times. Like I will do the fitness after work and cricket training sessions, I usually do alternate days in the afternoon where I do extended lunch kind of a thing. On tour, depends on the location where I am, the time zone, which tournament, what format it is, how long it is and so I manage.

“If it's a short practice day, I can still work remotely for a few hours. If it's an ODI game, I'm going to be very tired and I plan my vacation around that. If it's a major tournament like a World Cup, obviously I'm going to take full vacation. I talk with my boss and I see how my work is going. As long as I get my work done, they are very supportive. In that way, it helps a lot,” he said.

The mental gymnastics required to maintain this balance would break most people. But not Netravalkar, who credits yoga - not as exercise, but as a life philosophy, apart from being a proficient ukulele player and follower of Vegan lifestyle. "Yoga is just a philosophy of life. It's not for achieving something that I'm practicing yoga.

“I'm just studying knowledge like reading good books and trying to just apply it to my life just in general to be a better person. Me and my wife both follow the same path and other things just happen.

“For example, playing cricket or working doesn't feel like a chore anymore - it's just part of my life. It's assimilated into one life. I'm not trying to balance this versus that - they are not against each other. They complement each other. I would say it all ties down into one whole sadhana and that's how life is,” he elaborated.

June 6, 2024 - USA versus Pakistan at the T20 World Cup, a match that shouldn't have been close and Pakistan should have won easily. Instead, USA pulled off one of cricket's great upsets, with Netravalkar at the centre of it due to bowling the Super Over that sealed it.

“That was definitely a coming-of-age moment for us as a team because even leading up to the World Cup, we had two good series. We beat Canada 5-0 and then we beat Bangladesh 2-1. That gave us a big boost saying, ‘Okay, if we are playing well, at least in our home conditions, we can give a fight to any good team.’ First game of the World Cup, again, we chased 190 versus Canada against all odds.

“Each individual somehow managed to raise their game and perform when it mattered. That's what happened in the Pakistan game - it was like all eleven or even substitute fielders came and they took a brilliant catch. It was a complete team effort - everybody contributed and that gave us a boost as a team that we can perform at the top level,” he recalled.

The victory and March to Super Eights wasn't just historic; it was transformative as USA cricket went from curiosity to being under spotlight overnight. Major League Cricket performances were being noticed big time - players started getting picked up for global T20 leagues - not as associate quota fillers, but as genuine overseas professionals.

For Netravalkar himself, opportunities followed in the CPL and ILT20, which meant more cricket, exposure, and chances to study batters and bowlers at the highest level. "It massively helps us because it started obviously with our own local league, which is a major league and again has six franchises - two based out of Australia and four are IPL-based team owners.

“Once you do well for them in USA, then gradually they started trusting our skills and we got gigs - like I got a CPL and ILT20 gig. Shubham (Ranjane) just played the South Africa T20 league (SA20). That is a big deal because South Africa is again a full member nation and there was no associate player quota per se.

“He played as a regular overseas player, and that is a big checkmark. Again, 8-9 players - Andries Gous gets picked all over. He plays all these leagues while Harmeet (Singh) got a good opportunity – Sanjay (Krishnamurthi), Nosh (Nosthush Kenjige), lot of guys like Monank (Patel, captain). It was nice to see our players being recognized and being trusted as overseas players and not just as local players,” he said.

USA's lengthy preparation camp in Sri Lanka was about adjustment - to heat, surfaces that favour batters and spinners over pacers, conditions where 200 might be chased when 170 would be competitive back home.

“We'll expect the batters will try to attack the fast bowlers and maybe some good balls might also be hit. It's about maximizing your percentages and bowling the best balls, but expecting that maybe some balls might get hit. Scores might be higher here than what we see in USA, where it's usually a 160-170 kind of a game. Here we are seeing even 200 is getting chased. The pattern will be a little different and we have to try to be more unpredictable, use our variations smartly and that's about it,” he said.

But all considerations fade when discussing the Wankhede homecoming. "It's important to enjoy the emotions as well. So, yes, I will feel nostalgic and emotional. But when I will go to execute my skills and enter the field, I hope the focus will be only on my job at hand and I'll try to soak the energy. Hopefully, there's a lot of crowd and it'll be nice to perform and try to play my best cricket. I'll give my best and will see how we go.”

USA faces steep odds to achieve their goal of advancing to the next stage - tough conditions, top teams. But Netravalkar’s definition of achievement extends beyond results. “If we're making the right moves, maybe some days our execution might be off or some days the batters might just be too good for us and that's fine as well.

“It's about had we progressed from the last time we played and we have left no stone unturned in terms of preparation, planning and execution. If we did our best and still lose, then that's still a win. That's the best you can do as a player. If the result goes in our favour, that's great and will be historic for us again, but we'll see how we go,” he said.

He thinks about kids who might have watched that Pakistan victory, the way he once watched Indian heroes and copied their bowling actions with a rubber ball in his Mumbai building. "As players, yes, it is a responsibility for us to get the results. But result is not controllable ultimately.

“It's about had we progressed from the last time we played and we have left no stone unturned in terms of preparation, planning and execution. If we did our best and still lose, then that's still a win. That's the best you can do as a player. If the result goes in our favour, that's great and will be historic for us again, but we'll see how we go,” he said.

Saturday evening at Wankhede Stadium won't distinguish between the teenaged boy who once bowled here aiming to don India’s blues and is realising his dream by sporting the USA colours. The improbable has already happened; Saturday is just the long-awaited homecoming for Netravalkar.

Article Source: IANS