June 13 (Punjab Khabarnama) : Saurabh Netravalkar is the breakaway star of the USA team in this T20 World Cup. After picking up 2/18 against Pakistan, defending 18 off the Super Over and then dismissing Virat Kohli – for a golden duck – and Rohit Sharma in the next match, anyone would be. But what has added to Netravalkar’s rising stock is his India connection. The fact that he is a man of many talents – a software engineer at Oracle and a pretty decent ukelele player and vocalist, also adds to the charm.
All of these factors played a part as 11 journalists reportedly decided to skip India pacer Arshdeep Singh’s post-match press conference to interview Netravalkar in the ICC Mixed media zone. Arshdeep was the Player of the Match for returning with figures 4/9 in India’s 7-wicket victory over the USA.
Apart from the regular pre- and post-match press conferences, the ICC occasionally allows player-access in a mixed-media zone. Netravalkar was the player available for the same on Wednesday and the covering journalists did not want to let go of the opportunity.
Another proof of cricket’s growing popularity of the post-match press conference of USA head coach Stuart Law. The duration of the same was close to 11 minutes while Arshdeep’s press meet lasted a little over four minutes.
The locals are definitely interested, and the USA team’s performance in this World Cup is the biggest reason behind that. Despite the close loss to India, they are still the favourites to qualify for the Super 8 stage. All they need to do is beat Ireland in their final league match. The weather Gods are also in their favour.
The USA vs Ireland match is supposed to take place in Florida, where it has been raining incessantly for the last few days and the forecast for the coming week is not good either. If that match is abandoned then Ireland and USA will share points and the latter will go through to the Super 8 stage as the best Pakistan can reach is four points even if they win their last match against Canada.