Against all odds, the US cricket team wins hearts and minds with historic run through the Men’s T20 Cricket World Cup | CNN

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One is a software engineer. Another was a mobile phone sales representative, while a third recently left his job as a biomedical engineer.

Here are some of the players who are part of the United States men’s cricket team, which pulled off one of the biggest shocks in the sport’s long history by beating Pakistan in the T20 World Cup, while giving India a little fear. group stage.

And now, he will play in the next round of the tournament after qualifying for the Super 8 stage of the T20 World Cup after his match against Ireland was abandoned on Friday.

Born and raised in Mumbai, India, American bowler Saurabh Netravalkar started playing cricket at a young age. Such was the promise he showed that he was selected in the Indian squad for the Under-19 World Cup in 2010, finishing the tournament as the country’s leading wicket-taker.

After juggling the sport and other commitments, Netravalkar chose to focus on cricket in an attempt to make the Indian national team in his own right.

But as the dream of representing India seemed to fade away, Netravalkar moved to Cornell University in New York to pursue his studies in computer science, while continuing to play cricket.

In 2016, he got a job at tech company Orcale in San Francisco, where he has worked ever since.

While playing on weekends for club teams, Netravalkar was still far from international competition; not least because International Cricket Council (ICC) rules at the time would not have qualified him for the United States national team.

“I had a student visa then a work visa. So there was no question of playing for the team,” he told the BBC.

However, these rules were later relaxed and Netravalkar quickly established himself as a vital cog in the United States’ bowling attack, being chosen as the team’s captain and, at the time of writing, he is the country’s all-time leading wicket-taker.

But the highlight of his career so far came in that match against Pakistan.

After the United States took the match against Pakistan to a Super Over and established a competitive score of 18 runs, Netravalkar took charge of the ball.

His combination of precision and variation bamboozled Pakistan’s batters, restricting them to just 13 runs to secure a famous victory in the United States’ first appearance at the T20 World Cup.

And one of the team’s key players, Aaron Jones, said the moment was one he and his teammates had “dreamed about all our lives.”

“Playing in a World Cup, especially in front of our home fans, and definitely playing against a full member nation and not only playing but winning against them is a great feeling,” Jones told CNN’s Patrick Snell.

Full member nations are the 12 governing bodies around the world recognized by the ICC from which representative teams are qualified to play official test matches.

Jones was born in Queens, New York, to parents originally from Barbados, where he played for the Caribbean island before switching allegiance to the United States.

Days later, after beating Pakistan, the United States came close to winning another famous title, narrowly falling short against India.

Netravalkar once again shone with the ball, picking up the valuable wicket of Virat Kohli, widely regarded as one of the greatest batters in cricket history, who got out facing his first ball, then securing the wicket of the Indian captain Rohit Sharma.

Netravalkar is not the only player on the American team to juggle his professional commitments.

A few years ago, veteran American bowler Ali Khan was selling mobile phones in Dayton, Ohio, while spinner Nosthush Kenjige gave up his job as a biomedical engineer to concentrate on his cricket.

“This opportunity is more than a dream,” Kenjige » said USA Cricket. “My life has always revolved around cricket.”

The US team has players with ties to India, Pakistan, South Africa and New Zealand, while its coach is Australian Stuart Law.

The victory against Pakistan not only shocked the cricketing world, but also broke through into the broader American sporting discourse.

Not only are the United States co-hosts of the T20 World Cup for the first time, but they are also making their first appearance on that stage.

This comes at an important time for the sport in the United States as well, where there have been efforts to gain a foothold in the country in recent years.

Notably, Major League Cricket (MLC) – a professional T20 league organized in the United States – began last year, with international stars from around the world helping to usher in a new era for the sport in the country.

Jones, who was one of the United States’ main contributors during the tournament, particularly with his 94 points in the World Cup opener against Canada, believes his team’s success so far now can be the starting point for further engagement in cricket in the country. Before.

“We still really want to open the eyes of Americans when it comes to cricket,” the 29-year-old batter said. “I think it’s an important market as far as cricket is concerned.

“We’re just happy to be able to play at home. Playing at home is definitely a good thing. We’ve gotten a lot of calls, a lot of messages from Americans who really want to know more about this sport and we think that’s a really good thing. … I think things are just going to get bigger and better from here.”

Jones added: “I think if I have to explain cricket to an American, it’s basically baseball with different rules. But I think America is a place where people love sports and as long as Americans really and truly follow cricket and try to get to know it, I think they will definitely enjoy it and bring us definitely more support.

Although the United States knew that a victory against Ireland would guarantee their qualification for the Super 8 stage, the match was abandoned due to wet conditions, meaning their historic run in the tournament continues.