The United States of America truly arrived on the global cricketing stage, as they secured a historic victory against Pakistan at the Grand Prairie Stadium under the leadership of Monank Patel on Thursday. It was the USA's pace attack, spearheaded by Saurabh Netravalkar, that guided the team to stand victorious over one of the tournament's favourites. It was Netravalkar, whose heroics in the Super Over with the ball earned USA an internet-breaking victory, making the Mumbai-born cricketer a sensation on social media.
An engineer by profession outside of cricket, Netravalkar works for tech giant Oracle. Seeing their 'employee' become a superstar on the internet, even Oracle took to social media and extended greetings.
"Congrats @USACricket on a historic result! Proud of the team and our very own engineering and cricket star @Saurabh_Netra," the post read on X.
Congrats @USACricket on a historic result! Proud of the team and our very own engineering and cricket star @Saurabh_Netra#T20WorldCuphttps://t.co/adk6OZLide
— Oracle (@Oracle) June 7, 2024
Netravalkar, a 32-year-old left-arm quick, troubled Pakistan batters with his disciplined line and length throughout his four-over spell in the ongoing T20 World Cup.
Despite achieving figures of 2/18 in his four-over spell, Netravalkar made the headlines for defending 18 runs in the Super Over against the hard-hitting duo of Shadab Khan and Iftikhar Ahmed.
Alternate realities and dreams unfolded on Netravalkar's every delivery in the Super Over. His spellbinding performance took the USA to an elusive maiden T20I win over Pakistan.
Netravalkar featured for the India U-19 team in the World Cup in his youth. Fourteen years later, he shattered the dreams of Pakistan fans who hoped for a winning start ahead of their high-voltage clash against arch-rival India.
He was born in Mumbai and impressed in the domestic circuit with a staggering tally of 30 wickets in six games in the Cooch Behar Trophy in 2008-09.
Netravalkar was also the leading wicket-taker in the Under-19 tri-nation tournament in South Africa with eight wickets.
But in a country brimming with potential and talent, Netravalkar faced challenges in finding the opportunities to showcase his talent.
His fairytale story began in the United States, where he got the chance to represent a country that was on the periphery of leaving its mark in the world of cricket.
Against the mighty Pakistan, he made the Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan dance to his tunes.
He orchestrated Pakistan's downfall by leading the attack in the powerplay of the first innings.
After leaving an early impression, Netravalkar returned to inflict damage when Pakistan were looking to shift through gears. Iftikhar Ahmed was the centre of Pakistan's attack.
Monank handed the ball to Netravalkar to bowl the penultimate over and he didn't disappoint his skipper. Later in the Super Over, Netravalkar sealed USA's moment of history.
With ANI Inputs