New York (USA): Saurabh Netravalkar is a database Product Developer who works with his team Oracle Text at Oracle. Specifically, he looks into text searchability within the Oracle database.
Big deal! Techies are a rigidly categorised species of the Silicon Valley that can be found dime a dozen, peering into their comps and doing big data work which no one understands till a user face is developed.
Well, Netravalkar is a software engineer with a uniquely enabled motherboard which works on very hard skills – like taking out the Pakistan team in a single over of the T20 World Cup!
Super over, super man! Meet the new overnight sensation of the T20 World Cup who was instrumental in restricting Pakistani players like Iftikhar Ahmad, Fakhar Zaman and Shadab Khan at bay in a beautifully bowled super over, to win his team USA the crucial Group stage match against a big team.
For most of his 32 years, this boy from Malad struggled to play Cricket for India before giving up, move to Cornell University in the US for his Masters, and graduating from there to join Oracle as a techie – like most “good” Indian boys.
“After my undergrad, I gave full two years to Cricket, hoping to make a mark. But I could not even get picked in the IPL. Ranji kept me in and out. Then I decided to pack up, and come to America – without my cricketing gear,” he tells you in New York nine years down the line as a crucial spoke in the USA national team.
He turns emotional narrating this. “It was a very tough decision for me to leave Cricket, but I had no choice,” he says. That was way back in 2015. In 2024, he has emerged as the most Googled cricketing entity for the past two days. In one over, he became the poster boy of the game.
“Initially, when I was told that I’d be bowling the super over, I had butterflies and nerves in my stomach. But eventually, it calmed down as I started focussing on the process and plans instead of the results. The idea was to not focus on who is batting, it was on how I will be landing the ball,” he recalls.
Giving him the ball, his captain who is of Indian descent too, and coach said that “they believe in me and that they trust that I can do it for the team. That gave me immense confidence,” he adds.
Saurabh was closely observing the first innings of the super over – by Mohammad Amir which went on to nine balls and 18 runs. “I was observing to assess what would work. I discussed and clarified the plan with my team heads and then just went with it,” he says.
The clear plan was “how I would aim to execute my yorkers and variations if needed and at what line. I got to back the plan to maximize our chances,” he tells you.
Life changed for him in just those eight minutes he took to bowl the super over in Dallas. “For me, I am the same person, just trying to give my best every time I enter the field as I really value every opportunity to play and represent USA. I’m grateful for all the love and good wishes that I’ve been receiving. A big thank you to everyone,” he says.
Among those, has been Surya Kumar Yadav who shared an Instagram post congratulating Saurabh for his big achievement. “That felt nice. I have known him since when I was 14 and we played together,” he says.
Indeed, Netravalkar is in the happiest phase of his life. Oracle has granted him leave for the World Cup. “I am on vacation,” he says. However, while playing locally in league games, he works Monday to Friday and practices hard on weekends and late evenings. “When on tour, I work remotely, through Zoom meetings. That’s an advantage of being in the techie space. You can work from the dressing room,” he says with a smile.