The United States of America recorded a historic victory against Pakistan in the T20 World Cup 2024 on June 6. US pacer Sauarbh Netravalkar became a social media sensation, courtesy of his excellent Super Over performance. Mr Netravalkar is an engineer by profession and works for tech giant Oracle. Recently, the athlete was spotted in New York's Nassau County International Cricket Stadium to watch the India vs Pakistan cricket match, where he shared some advice for children.
Mr Netravalkar was seen interacting with Indian-American comedian Zarna Garg in the stands. In a video shared on Instagram, she can be seen casually interviewing the cricketer. "I'm here with superstar Saurabh who won the match for Team USA. He works for Oracle and he is a software engineer," Ms Garg said in the video. She then asked the 32-year-old to share a message for children. Responding to the same, the cricketer said, "Dream big and do what you love." Ms Zarna jokingly said that this was not the answer she was expecting. "No, no. Cancel Saurabh right now," she said towards the end of the clip.
"Let's not lose sight," reads the caption of the Instagram reel. Since being shared, the clip has amassed 8.4 million views.
"First become a soft engineer and then do what ever you love," said a user.
"Engineer can be anything," commented a person.
A person wrote, "That NO, NO echoed thru all indian kids' hearts!"
"That no was personal!" remarked a user.
"Haha .. auntie Z wanted him to say only because of good grades he was able to win match. So kids , focus on your grades," commented another person.
Meanwhile, Mr Netravalkar is the story of a successful marriage between academics and sports. In 2010, he bowled against the likes of Joe Root, Jos Buttler, and Ben Stokes, the golden batch of U-19 English cricketers, who played in that World Cup in New Zealand and 'Netra', as he was known back then, formed a potent pairing with fellow left-arm seamer Jaydev Unadkat and Punjab's Sandeep Sharma, as per news agency PTI.
With an engineering degree in Computer Science, the academically brilliant lad got a scholarship to pursue his MS from the prestigious Cornell University. However, cricket never left him as he performed at all levels of US cricket to make a name for himself and stood tall with his decent show in Major League Cricket's first edition which was headlined by many top T20 pros in world cricket.
