Saurabh Netravalkar: Oracle techie who coded USA's monumental win over Pakistan
When Saurabh Netravalkar's U-19 World Cup teammates bagged IPL contracts, the USA star opted to pursue a Masters in Computer Science at Cornell University.
Soon after Saurabh Netravalkar architected United States of America's (USA) unforgettable win over former champions Pakistan at the ICC World T20 2024, the Oracle techie's LinkedIn profile became the talk of the town on social media.
Causing one of the biggest upsets in the history of the T20 World Cup, co-hosts USA outclassed Babar Azam's Pakistan in a Super-Over thriller on Thursday at the Grand Prairie Stadium.
A cricketer who knows how to code. Netravalkar was busy making headlines before USA squared off against Pakistan at the grandest stage. Netravalkar bagged a special mention recently when an X (formerly known as Twitter) user revealed that one of his colleagues at Oracle is set to play against Rohit Sharma's Team India at the T20 World Cup.
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So, who is Netravalkar? Let's find out more about the Oracle techie, who coded USA's monumental Super Over win against Pakistan at the T20 World Cup in Dallas.
Born in Mumbai on October 16, 1991, Netravalkar is an Indian-born cricketer who previously captained the US national team. Interestingly, Netravalkar enjoyed a brief domestic stint in India. The former India U19 cricketer switched his base to the US in 2015. He has also played a Ranji Trophy game for Mumbai. For the unversed, Netravalkar is a former teammate of KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Harshal Patel, Jaydev Unadkat and Sandeep Sharma.
Though USA met Pakistan for the first time in the shortest format, Netravalkar recorded his first encounter with Pakistan superstar Babar way back in 2010. The former Indian cricketer spearheaded the bowling attack of the Rahul-starrer side at the U-19 World Cup. Netravalkar got the better of Ahmed Shehzad in India's two-wicket defeat to Pakistan in the ICC event. Netravalkar was India's highest wicket-taker in the 2010 edition of the ICC U-19 World Cup. At the time, he picked up nine wickets in six games for the Men In Blue.
The former USA captain is nicknamed Netra. According to his LinkedIn profile, the professional cricketer is also the Principal Member of the Technical Staff at Oracle. The ex-Graduate Teaching Assistant at Cornell University completed his master's degree in Computer science in 2016. The USA bowler earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Mumbai in 2013. When Netravalkar is not busy coding, the former USA skipper often takes prized scalps of household names in world cricket.
Netravalkar put the USA ahead by getting the better of Mohammad Rizwan in his first over against Pakistan. Netravalkar also bagged the wicket of Iftikhar Ahmed in the 18th over. Tasked to bowl the Super Over for the USA against the 2009 world champions, Netravalkar won his battle against Iftikhar for the second time as the pacer leaked only 13 runs to win the Super Over encounter for the World Cup co-hosts in Dallas. The 32-year-old has played 48 One Day Internationals (ODIs) and 29 T20Is for USA. The left-arm fast-medium pacer and right-handed batter made his international debut against the United Arab Emirates at ICC Academy Ground in 2019.
