The US cricket team, which was qualified for the World Cup as co-hosts of the T20 World Cup, surprised the most seasoned cricket watchers in the group stage, beating 2022 finalists Pakistan and losing only narrowly to India in New York. The players mainly hail from India, Pakistan and the Caribbean are part-time cricketers.
In the day-time most of them work in offices or other places. One example is Saurabh Netravalkar, the 32-year-old India born fast bowler, who worked for software giant Oracle. Instead of joining work, he was in Antigua, leading the US team's attack against South Africa in the latter stages of the T20 World Cup. A victory against Canada and a washout against Ireland in Florida, was enough to propel the team into the final eight, in their first World Cup appearance.
“A lot of people don’t really pay much attention to US cricket,” Queens-born Aaron Jones, who played for Barbados before switching to the US team, said of the historic run. “So probably the world doesn’t know how much talent we have here, how good the players are that we have here. I think that could be a little advantage to us.”
Netravalkar, who came to the US for college and is on a work visa, played a central role, holding his nerve in a deciding “super over” against Pakistan after the two sides posted identical totals. After some matches, he logs on to his work laptop in his hotel room. His teammates, who hail largely from India, Pakistan and the Caribbean, have similar stories. Many abandoned fledgling cricketing careers in their home countries in order to seek economic opportunities in the US, where they discovered the game’s slow revival.
Captain Monank Patel, who hails from Anand in Gujarat, where he was a professional cricketer, came to the US in 2015 to run a Chinese restaurant franchise. He initially played club cricket on artificial turf pitches before joining the national team, which awarded its first professional contracts just five years ago.
The team’s World Cup success had begun to attract a wider fan base, Patel said. “Mostly we see the Asian community and Caribbean community coming in and supporting us and watching the game, but we have seen a lot of [other] people . . . it is really surprising and good to see.”
News of Team USA’s triumphs even made it on to mainstream sports outlets. The White House called the US team’s results “tremendous”, adding “we’re cheering them on”.
The unexpected coverage has been welcomed by those who have bet millions of dollars on the game’s growth in America, where it was once more popular than baseball before fading. Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella and Texan billionaire Ross Perot Jr are among the backers of Major League Cricket, a T20 franchise that will enter its second season soon after the World Cup. Global stars including Australian Test captain Pat Cummins and Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan have been lured to the tournament by outsized, six-figure pay packets.
The US team’s run “has brought a lot more awareness, people are hearing a lot more about cricket”, said Sanjay Govil, owner of MLC team Washington Freedom, whose current squad includes Netravalkar and US teammate Andries Gous. “It is one of those watershed moments, like the US beating Russia [at ice hockey] in the 1980 Olympics,” Govil added. MLC chief executive Vijay Srinivasan hoped the US’s performance “inspires boys and girls around the country to pick up a bat and ball this summer.”
