Saurabh Naresh Netravalkar, AKA Saurabh Netravalkar is a well-known player in the United States, but it was on June 6, 2024, when he introduced himself to world cricket. It was the first time the USA played in the ICC T20 Cricket World Cup, and their second match was against one of the tournament's favourites, Pakistan. Saurabh Netravalkar stunned the Pakistani team when he dismissed Mohammad Rizwan and Iftikhar Ahmed to lead his team to a historic win. For the uninitiated, Pakistan made 159 runs for the loss of seven wickets, while the USA made 159 runs in just three wickets.
The match went to super over, and Saurabh won it for the USA, as he took Mohammad Amir's crucial wicket and gave away just 13 runs. Interestingly, Saurabh Netravalkar didn't stop here, as in the USA's third match against India, he took crucial wickets of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. While Rohit was sent to the dressing room in just three runs, Saurabh dismissed Virat on his first bowl. At that moment, Saurabh Netravalkar's name started echoing in the corridors of world cricket.
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Saurabh Netravalkar's team, USA is ranked 17th in the world, but they created history as they reached the 'Super Eight' after eliminating the 7th-ranked team, Pakistan. The USA is placed in Group 2 of the Super Eight with England, West Indies, and South Africa. Once again, all the eyes will be on USA's left-arm medium-fast bowler, Saurabh Netravalkar, who has been one of the best bowlers of the 2024 ICC T20 World Cup. Since his exceptional performance in the 2024 ICC T20 World Cup, Saurabh Netravalkar has been leading all the headlines. As a result, we are going to uncover some interesting facts and figures related to his cricketing career.
Saurabh Netravalkar was born on October 16, 1991, in Mumbai. Like any youngster in the country, he also developed an interest in cricket from an early age. However, as he grew up, he showed promising signs and started taking coaching.
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After he started training and taking coaching, Saurabh started playing for Mumbai's multiple age-groups teams. Courtesy of his technique as a fast-medium bowler, he soon grabbed the attention of selectors and was selected for India's Under-19 cricket team. Saurabh had represented India in the 2010 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup. Courtesy of his impressive bowling, India reached the quarter-finals.
Despite Saurabh Netravalkar's impressive performance in the 2010 World Cup, he couldn't make it to the Indian team or Mumbai team. The reason behind it was the presence of youngsters named Zaheer Khan, Aavishkar Salvi, Ajit Agarkar, and Dhawal Kulkarni. Saurabh's potential fell short in front of these bowlers. However, he made his Ranji Trophy debut back in 2010. The cricketer left his day job as a software testing engineer in Pune to pursue his passion. It was frustrating for Saurabh as he wasn't getting a lot of playing time because of the already star-studded team of Mumbai.
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After not getting enough opportunities in India, Saurabh Netravalkar switched his base to the US in 2015. It was in 2016, Saurabh Netravalkar participated in the USACA National Championship and in 2017, he caught the attention of USA's then-coach, Pubudu Dassanayake while he was playing for Southern California Cricket Association XI against USA XI in a friendly match. In 2018, Saurabh was included in the USA's national squad for the 2017-18 season of the Regional Super50 tournament. In October 2018, Saurabh was appointed as USA's captain.
However, not everyone is aware of the fact that Saurabh is working as a Principal Member of the technical staff at Oracle. In order to play in the 2024 ICC T20 World Cup, he had taken leave from his office. For the uninitiated, Saurabh completed his Bachelor's degree in Computer Engineering from Sardar Patel Institute of Technology in Mumbai. After not getting enough chances to play for Mumbai, Saurabh concentrated on his studies and received a scholarship from Cornell University. He completed his Master's degree in Software Engineering and also developed an app, CricDecode, which was based on player analysis. It's incredible how Saurabh has been playing cricket at the highest level while working as a techie at a company.
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Saurabh Netravalkar has indeed become a sensation at the World Cup, but his wife, Devi Snigdha Muppala is also receiving a lot of attention at the moment. For the unversed, Devi Snigdha and Saurabh became friends when they were studying at Cornell University. After dating each other for some time, Saurabh and Devi Snigdha got married and are currently leading a healthy and sound married life. For the uninitiated, Devi Snigdha also works as a Principal Engineer at Oracle.
Apart from being a techie, Devi Snigdha Muppala is also a professional Kathak dancer. She started her own Bollywood-inspired fitness program, BollyX, in the US, which received a lot of positive responses from the audiences. From working together in the same company to supporting each other in their respective ideas, Saurabh and Devi Snigdha are pure couple goals. We hope to see them more in the future after they have become one of the most famous couples in the cricket world, all thanks to Saurabh Netravalkar's inspirational cricketing career so far.
What are your thoughts on Saurabh Netravalkar's journey as a cricketer? Let us know.
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