By Daisy Atino

Indian Born left arm pacer Saurabh Netravalkar, made headlines during the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 with his sensational performance in the tournament. His most remarkable performance in the tournament came against Pakistan where he defended 18 runs in the Super Over.

Netravalkar also starred for USA against India, claiming the prized wickets of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli in his opening spell.

Born in Mumbai, Netravalkar represented India U-19 side in the 2010 U-19 Cricket World Cup, before moving to the USA for higher education. Balancing a career in Computer Science, he continued playing cricket at an elite level.

Given his excellent performance in the T20 World Cup 2024, Saurabh Netravalkar entered the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 mega auction with a base price of INR 1.25 crores. However, he could not find any buyers in the two-day mega event. The left-arm pacer recently shared his thoughts about missing out on a IPL contract.

Speaking to the media, Netravalkar expressed gratitude for being shortlisted in the final auction list and acknowledged that, while he had hopes, the player pool was highly competitive with many top players not making the cut. He looks forward to watching the season, which promises high-quality cricket, and plans to continue working hard to improve and return stronger next year.

Netravalkar’s journey in cricket began in India, where he played for the Under-19 Indian team and earned the title of the highest wicket-taker for India in the 2010 ICC Under-19 World Cup in New Zealand, with 9 wickets. He then moved to the USA in 2015 to pursue higher education and made his debut for the USA national team in March 2019.

He also played in 2021 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Americas Qualifier tournament in Antigua and in May 2022, he was part of the team which participated in round 12 and round 13 of the 2019–2023 ICC Cricket World Cup League 2 tournament. In the second match of the twelfth round, he became the USA’s leading wicket-taker in limited overs cricket.

In March 2023, Netravalkar was picked by the Washington Freedom in the player’s draft to play in Major League Cricket. He eventually was the third highest wicket-taker of the inaugural edition of the Major League Cricket Tournament in 2023 season which also included a spell of 6/9 against San Francisco Unicorns.

On June 6, 2024, Netravalkar gained international fame and became an overnight sensation after playing a pivotal role in engineering a famous victory against Pakistan by bowling the super over during the 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.

In October 2024, he was picked by the Rangpur Riders in the player’s draft to play in Bangladesh Premier League.