Saurabh Netravalkar: A coder and cricketer living the American dream

As a teenager playing cricket in Mumbai in the mid-2000s, Saurabh Netravalkar would have dreamt of playing in a World Cup game against Pakistan. He may have discarded that dream sometime in 2015 when he left India after playing for the country in the 2010 U-19 World Cup and moved to the United States to pursue Masters in Computer Science degree at Cornell University. All these years later though, a combination of destiny and hard work has helped the left-arm pacer fulfill that ambition in very different circumstances.

Playing for United States, Netravalkar, 32, was the man of the moment on Thursday as he bowled the newcomers to victory over Pakistan by successfully defending 18 runs in the Super Over after the game ended in a tie.

For a player like Netravalkar, playing cricket is not about the money that the game offers. He holds a high-paying job as a software engineer in Oracle. For him, the adrenaline rush comes from matching his skills against the world’s best. As a professional player, Thursday was a moment to cherish, proving his quality and game sense in front of a world audience and showing that he belongs at the highest level.

“Definitely, it’s a dream fulfilled for him. You see how the destiny plays out — USA (only) get a chance to play the T20 World Cup because they are the host country, otherwise where was the chance to qualify in the tournament for them. He had left Mumbai and gone there and then the ICC rule also got changed, instead of seven years they reduced it to three years stay. He kept getting the advantages. Whatever was in his destiny, automatically he kept getting it,” said his father Naresh on Friday.

Having claimed 2/18 in four overs to help US restrict Pakistan to 159/7, Netravalkar’s nerves of steel came to the fore in the Super Over, keeping the big shots at bay against Iftikhar Ahmed and Shadab Khan.

Watching the Super Over on TV was nerve-racking for his father. “Anything can happen in the Super Over, but he kept his calm and bowled intelligently,” said Naresh.

With his mother and wife in attendance at the Grand Prairie Stadium in Dallas, the former Mumbai bowler’s contribution of 4-0-18-2 had included the wickets of Mohammad Rizwan with an away swinger and Ahmed with a dipping slow full-toss.

Netravalkar was once among India’s finest junior cricketers. At the 2010 U-19 World Cup in New Zealand, where the likes of Joe Root and Ben Stokes were playing for England, he was his team’s highest wicket-taker. But he was a brilliant student too and did well to balance and excel in academics and cricket.

At that time, Mumbai had a strong pace attack comprising Zaheer Khan, Dhawal Kulkarni, Ajit Agarkar and Avishkar Salvi, which made it difficult for Netravalkar to establish himself in the senior side. He had to make a career choice between waiting for his chances in first-class cricket and pursuing higher studies.

For the left-arm pacer, playing professional cricket was anyway never a straightforward decision. Being a bright computer science student from one of the most reputed engineering colleges in the country — Mumbai’s Sardar Patel Institute of Technology — there is always the pull of securing a rewarding job overseas.

He was 23 when the left-arm pacer took the hard decision to quit the sport and pursue higher studies in the United States, leaving behind his cricketing dreams in India. It was two years after his Ranji Trophy debut for Mumbai in 2013, against a Karnataka team that included his India U-19 teammate KL Rahul.

As Rahul, along with other 2010 U-19 World Cup players Mayank Agarwal and Jaydev Unadkat, chalked his journey towards the senior India cap and an IPL contract, Netravalkar chose to head to Cornell University.

“It was a very emotional decision for me to sort of leave cricket behind and come to the USA to pursue higher education,” Netravalkar had told HT a few months ago.

But he couldn’t never fully let go his love for the game. The software engineer thus found a way to resume playing and even went on to captain the US national team. “I am grateful to destiny that it gave me a second chance to pursue cricket again here and very lucky to balance it with my full-time job as a software engineer,” said Netravalkar.

Last season, in the Major League Cricket T20 tournament, playing for Washington Freedom, the Mumbaikar claimed six wickets for just nine runs in a game against San Francisco Unicorns.

The hard yards in Mumbai are helping Netravalkar. “Definitely (the experience gives me the edge), during my U-19 days also, I had faced good competition. I remember in 2009 we played the BCCI Corporate Trophy, I played in the Air India side, captained by Yuvraj Singh. Suresh Raina was playing, they were all India players. I did well in that tournament and that performance had led me to get picked in the India Under-19 team. It was too long back, but I knew if I work hard, I can do well. Then the Mumbai attitude — never leave the game, fight till the end — also helped me.”

Compared to professional cricketers in India who can focus full-time on sport, Netravalkar also has to focus on his job at San Francisco. He is balancing both aspects well. “I am a software engineer, so I have to mostly code. The timings are flexible, which is a good thing about this profession. So, I can work at my own time,” said Netravalkar, who also enjoys strumming the ukulele in his pastime.