The United States cricket team has been nothing less than a revelation in the ICC T20 World Cup 2024. After winning the opening game of the tournament against Canada, USA shocked everyone by defeating the 2022 T20 World Cup finalists, Pakistan in their second group stage game.
The hosts eventually managed to qualify for the Super 8 stages of the tournament and most recently played their first Super 8 game against South Africa. Despite losing the game, Aaron Jones and team managed to put up a good fight against the Proteas.
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Apart from Jones, another player who has been mighty important behind USA’s success in the ongoing tournament is fast bowler, Saurabh Netravalkar. Netravalkar spent his youth in India and even represented the men in blue in the Under 19 World Cup, and has shared the dressing room with the likes of Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, etc.
Netravalkar later moved on to the US to complete his studies, and along with being a software developer, Netravalkar also represented the USA in cricket. Netravalkar’s brilliant performances in this T20 World Cup has earned him praises from legendary players and coaches.
READ MORE: What is Super 8 stage of T20 World Cup 2024 and how does it work?
Will Netravalkar play IPL 2025?
USA have played four games in the tournament so far and Netravalkar’s performances have been influential in every one of those games. In the iconic win against Pakistan, Netravalkar’s efforts helped US to restrict Pakistan to 159/7 in 20 overs. He picked up 2 wickets, giving away just 18 runs in his spell of 4 overs.
Netravalkar also bowled the super over in that thrilling game and was once again successful in restricting the Pakistani’s from reaching USA’s set target of 19 runs.
READ MORE: Who is Saurabh Netravalkar? All you need to know about the Oracle engineer-cum-cricketer
He once again delivered with two wickets against the Indians, but unfortunately his team lost the game by 7 wickets.
Former Zimbabwe player and current Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) head coach, Andy Flower has also praised him for his performances and has even tipped the pacer to be a part of the prestigious Indian Premier League (IPL) in the 2025 season.
| Matches | Wickets | Average | Economy | BF |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 6 | 12.17 | 5.21 | 2/18 |
Netravalakar recently wont he MLC title playing for the Washington Freedom (WAF). WAF defeated San francisco Unicrons (SFU) in the Final to clinch their maiden title. Netravalkar finished as the top wicket-taker of the tournament finishign with a tally of 15 wickets in 7 games.
Netravalkar's stocks have flown through the roof - Flower
Talking to ESPN Cricinfo, Flower seemed very excited about the possibility of Netravalkar playing in the IPL. He also mentioned his experience of having previously worked with Netravalkar in the ILT20 league.
Well, his stocks have flown off the roof, I think. Imust say I really enjoyed working with him in the ILT20. Smart guy, very skillful and a great man around the team. Very independent and self managed. So without a doubt people will be looking and thinking, that's a left arm swing bowler who can also bowl for us at the death.
Flower had nothing but words of praise for the 32-year-old and might even ask the management to go after him if he is available for the IPL 2025 mega auction.
When is the IPL Mega Auction?
The dates for IPL 2025 mega auction haven’t been made official yet but like the previous auctions, it's highly likely that the mega auction will be conducted in December 2024 or February 2025.
When does IPL 2025 start?
IPL 2025 is likely to start from March 23, 2025 up until May 29, 2025. The dates haven't been made official by the BCCI yet and might change in due course of time.
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