United States of India: From Ahmedabad, Ooty, Mumbai, Delhi, meet America’s giant killers

Some were looking for greener pastures after a decent first-class career, a few wanted life to give them a second chance, while for others the fact that they were good but not good enough forced them to find an unfamiliar cricket ground on the weekend.

Meet the stars of the US T20 World Cup debutants who stunned the cricket world by beating last edition finalists Pakistan.

Monank Patel

The Ahmedabad-born captain of the team won the player of the match award for his half-century and is one of the few people who has made the move to continue his cricket career. He received a green card in 2010 and moved permanently to New Jersey in 2016.

Also read: The 5 biggest upsets in the history of the T2 World Cup

A hard-hitting right-hander, he also conducts coaching clinics and teaches cricket lessons to children from the diaspora three times a week when he is not on national duty. Initially, there were very few turf wickets in the US and Monank has played extensively on mats and in 20 and 30 weekend club tournaments across the country.

Saurabh Netravalkar

Netravalkar, the man of the moment after a great Super Over and before that Mohammed Rizwan with an away swinger and Iftikhar Ahmed fooled with a low, slow full toss, is the story of a successful marriage between academics and sports.

In 2010 he bowled against the likes of Joe Root, Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes, the golden crop of English U-19 cricketers, who played at that World Cup in New Zealand and ‘Netra’, as he was then known, formed a powerful combination with fellow left-arm seamer Jaydev Unadkat and Sandeep Sharma of Punjab.

But just like in Mumbai, being good is not enough and you have to be the best to survive. With an engineering degree in computer science, the academically brilliant boy was awarded a scholarship to earn his MS from the prestigious Cornell University.

However, cricket never left him as he performed at all levels of American cricket to make a name for himself and held his own with his decent showing in the first edition of Major League Cricket which was awarded by many top T20 professionals in world cricket .

Outside of cricket, you can find him at Oracle’s Silicon Valley office, where he is a senior tech.

Harmeet Singh

Ian Chappell wanted to be included in the Indian team after his performances at the 2012 U-19 World Cup, but like many precocious talents, he lost his way. He was stopped by police as he entered a train station in a car and stories of indiscipline abounded as Mumbai cricket turned its back on him.

He switched to Tripura as a professional, but with little success. He decided to migrate to the United States and that turned out to be a good choice. He has rediscovered his mojo and has been one of the most consistent performers, including a recent series against Bangladesh. The extra runs he stole in the Super Over with the ball in Rizwan’s hands spoke volumes about his cricketing skills.

Nosthush Kenjige

You don’t know if Kenjige has heard the famous country song “I come from Alabama” by the father of American music, Stephen C. Foster, but born in that famous southeastern region, Kenjige’s journey as a Tamil-American is fascinating.

He had moved to Ooty with his parents as a child and was an intermediate left-arm pacer before taking up spin at the age of 13. By the time he was 18, Kenjige’s parents sent him to Bengaluru, where he played in KSCA’s first division league.

But once he knew that even breaking into the state of Karnataka was difficult, he decided to move back to his native country and take up a course in biomedical engineering.

He was done with cricket and didn’t even bother packing his things when he left for the United States, but his mother put a cricket ball in his suitcase and peace was history. He got a job in Washington DC, where he was introduced to club cricket in New York during squash evenings.

He then left his job as a biomedical officer and played for the USA from ICC’s WCL Division 4.

Milind Kumar

When Milind Kumar arrived, everyone foresaw a solid talent in the Delhi circuit scene within seven years. He became a fringe player, often left to tail in the Ranji Trophy. A move to Sikkim in the Plate League and over 1,300 runs was not the silver lining he was hoping for.

After COVID-19, he migrated to the US and performed well in domestic tournaments to find a place in the 15. Even for Delhi, he was a rifle fielder and Iftikhar Ahmed would have found the going tough in the Super Over. That catch diving forward after sprinting 10 yards from the long boundary ended Pakistan’s hopes.

Nitish Kumar

It is a very good time to be a Nitish Kumar, whether you are in India or in the United States. In 2011, when MS Dhoni hit that towering World Cup-winning six and Virat Kohli was just announcing himself as the next big thing, the school-going Nitish had set a world record by becoming, at the age of 16, the youngest to play a 50-over World Cup played. 283 for Canada against Zimbabwe.

Thirteen years ago, the mark he reached with Haris Rauf’s final delivery is his hour of glory. As Ian Bishop is said to have said, “Nitish Kumar, remember the name.”

Jaspreet ‘Jessy’ Singh

Born in New Jersey, raised in rural Punjab and returned to the land of good opportunities as a teenager, Jessy has been struggling for a long time.

In 2015, he was left out of the US team that was going to play a domestic 50-match during the West Indies competition. Jessy left everything behind to double his practice hours.