"We played cricket together," Rohit Sharma rekindles memories of sharing dressing room with Saurabh Netravalkar

Saurabh Netravalkar dismissed Rohit Sharma in the IND vs USA match at the ICC T20 World Cup 2024.

The on-field reunion with Saurabh Netravalkar wasn’t an ideal one for Rohit Sharma as the left-arm pacer, who once shared the Mumbai dressing room with Rohit, dismissed the Indian skipper in their encounter at the ICC T20 World Cup 2024.

The Rohit Sharma-led India expectedly won the contest against the USA in New York. However, the Asian giants were made to sweat heavily for about three-fourths of their innings by the USA, who are playing the T20 World Cup for the first time.

Netravalkar dismissed two of the biggest names in world cricket, Virat Kohli and Rohit, in his first two overs to leave India reeling at 10/2. Then Suryakyumar Yadav’s partnerships of 29 (32) with Rishabh Pant and 67* (65) with Shivam Dube took India over the line and into the Super 8.

Saurabh Netravalkar has now become a common name in India. After his heroics with the ball in the Super Over against Pakistan, the 32-year-old went viral for the fact that he is a full-time engineer at tech giant Oracle. Then his performance against India in dismissing two of the finest batters of the generation improved his recognition.

I’m very happy to see them: Rohit Sharma on Netravalkar and Harmeet Singh

Netravalkar was born in Mumbai in 1991. He played in the 2010 Under-19 World Cup alongside KL Rahul, Mandeep Singh, Mayank Agarwal, Jaydev Unadkat and Harshal Patel. He was India’s highest wicket-taker in that tournament.

He was picked in squads for the Mumbai domestic teams where he shared the dressing room with Rohit. However, the chances for him were few and far between. After warming Mumbai’s bench for years, he moved to the USA to do his master’s and got a job at Oracle. He started playing cricket again on weekends and opportunities in a few years led him to the USA national side.

Another player in this USA side who had previously been associated with Rohit is left-arm spinner Harmeet Singh, who went to the same school as Sharma in Borivali.

Speaking after the match in New York, Rohit said, “Lot of these guys, we’ve played cricket together. But I’m very happy to see them, their progress in cricket. Last year, we saw them play in the MLC [Major League Cricket] as well, they’re going from strength to strength, and I can hope for nothing but the best for them. They’re hard-working guys making their mark here in US.”

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