Cricket-Netravalkar Juggles Tech Job While Chasing Olympic Dream Saurabh Netravalkar, a software engineer and cricketer, is balancing his career in technology with his ambition to compete in the 2028 Olympics, where cricket will return to the Games. The fast bowler’s journey from India to the United States has been marked by perseverance, as he pursued both his professional life and cricketing aspirations. Netravalkar played a pivotal role in the U.S. team’s historic victory over Pakistan in the 2024 T20 World Cup, a moment that has since inspired a documentary chronicling his dual life. Netravalkar’s cricketing career took a backseat after he left India in 2015 to study in the U.S. Initially, he stepped away from the sport, but he gradually resumed playing recreationally before joining club cricket. His professional journey began in 2019 when he debuted for the U.S. national team, three years after securing a job at Oracle. For years, his colleagues remained unaware of his weekend commitments to tournaments, as he traveled across the country to compete. The documentary, titled “The Long Game: Saurabh Netravalkar, Between Two Worlds,” directed by Pierre ‘Pyare’ Friquet, explores Netravalkar’s life in both tech and cricket. The film highlights his role in the U.S. team’s 2024 T20 World Cup triumph, focusing on the dramatic “Super Over” where his precise bowling secured the win against Pakistan. The documentary interweaves key moments from his life with the match’s climactic scenes, using animation to recreate his memories. Friquet described the film’s depiction of Netravalkar’s struggles, including a “nightmare sequence” where his inner doubts and fears of failure are explored. Netravalkar praised the film’s accuracy, recalling how it evoked emotional responses from him.#oracle #saurabh_netravalkar #2028_olympics #us_team #2024_t20_world_cup
