The United States (USA) pacer Saurabh Netravalkar is setting his sights on participating in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 after a stellar Major League Cricket (MLC) 2024 campaign.
Netravalkar, who was born in India, represented his homeland in the U19 World Cup, playing alongside the likes of Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh but he moved to the USA to pursue his studies.
However, despite becoming a software engineer, the left-arm pacer managed to keep a balance in his professional and personal life and is now making headlines due to his impressive performances on the field.
He announced himself to the world during the T20 World Cup 2024 where the USA played the playoffs, defeating Pakistan in the group stages where Netravalkar’s contribution was noteworthy.
In the T20 World Cup, he bagged six wickets in as many matches but his most important spell was in the group match against Pakistan where he took two wickets for just 18 runs and then bowled a match-winning super over.
The 32-year-old is now having his eyes on playing in IPL as he said, “I mean, that is not in my hands. If the selection happens, it happens. I will try and let's see.”
Meanwhile, in MLC 2024, where he represented Washington Freedom, he ended the tournament as the top wicket-taker with 15 scalps in seven matches as his team lifted the title.
The head coach of the IPL franchise Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), Andy Flower, recently lauded Netravalkar’s skills saying that he is a bower who does really well in death over.
"His stocks have flown off the roof. Very skillful and a great man around the team. People will be looking and thinking, that's a left-arm swing bowler who can also bowl for us at the death," Flower said.
