Netravalkar chased wickets and books!

Kiran Mokashi

Saurabh Netravalkar's coach at the MCA-BKC Academy, Kiran Mokashi (below), was mighty proud of his ward as he stunned Pakistan to cause the biggest upset on the T20 World Cup stage on Thursday. In a Facebook post, Mokashi, the former Mumbai off-spinner, recalled the left-arm fast bowler's days at the U-19 level. "I remember he had pretty decent pace, but he was a brilliant student," said Mokashi, stressing Netravalkar scored more than 95 per cent marks in his Class 10 and 12 examinations.

"He would always be scampering from his classes to his cricket sessions. I told him why not concentrate on his academics as the University would not give him concessions for his cricket matches and practice sessions. He would grin and bear it as he was passionate about the game," wrote Mokashi, who claimed 146 wickets in 47 first-class games. He ended his post with a lesson for young cricketers: "If you desire and love something passionately, the whole ‘kaayanaat' [universe] gets together to help you achieve your dream."

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Saurabh hailed

Nidhi Netravalkar, Saurabh's sister (on Facebook)

"His win feels personal!"I've heard this at least 50 times in the past few hours. It made me realise what a beautiful culture we have. Being the second largest population in the world, you'd expect people to be competitive and jealous of each others achievements, but that's just one of the ways in which Indian culture surprises the world.

From our house-help who learnt how to make vegan puran poli and karanji to wish him before the tournament to the neighbours who he grew up with came home crying with tears of joy at 1:15 am in the night, it's not just USA's historic win against Pakistan, it is the win of each and every person involved in the journeys of the players in the smallest way possible. There's one scene from 12th Fail that I feel sums up what I am feeling - When one of us wins, it's a victory for all of us.

Saurabh Netravalkar dada, you've made us proud.

Oracle, Netravalkar's employer (on X)
Congrats @USACricket on a historic result! Proud of the team and our very own engineering and cricket star
@Saurabh_Netra #T20WorldCup