United States of America’s premier fast bowler Saurabh Netravalkar has shared his thoughts after being unsold in the IPL 2025 mega auction.
Netravalkar was born in Mumbai and has also played U-19 cricket for India in the 2010 ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup. USA defeated Pakistan in the 2024 T20 World Cup in a super over. Netravalkar was the star of that game as he defended 18 in the super over for the USA. Before that, he picked up the important wickets of Mohammad Rizwan and Iftikhar Ahmed.
The left-arm pacer picked up 6 wickets in 6 games at an economy of 6.63 in the tournament. After that, he had a good season in Major League Cricket (MLC) 2024. He was the highest wicket-taker of the tournament with 15 wickets in 7 games. Netravalkar played for the Washington Freedom under Ricky Ponting.
“Had hopes for sure”: Saurabh Netravalkar
Talking to the Times of India, he said, “Firstly, grateful for getting shortlisted in the final auction list. Yes, the child in me had hopes for sure! But, it was a high-quality player pool with so many top players also failing to make the cut, so I completely understand”.
He also talked about Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav. “I know Rohit bhai and Surya since my days in Mumbai, and it was nice to meet up with them. They also appreciated our efforts, and that means a lot as well. Similarly, we exchanged greetings with all other Indian players and support staff, and it was wonderful”, he said.
Netravalkar said that he’s looking forward to the upcoming IPL season and will come back stronger next year.
The USA pacer said, “Really looking forward to watch the season which I’m sure will be filled with the highest quality of cricket, and personally I’ll keep working harder and trying to get better and come back stronger hopefully next year”.
Netravalkar concluded with, “Again, very grateful for this entire season of cricket, where we got the opportunity to play against such top-quality teams at the World Cup. It made us believe that we can perform at this level if we give our best. So in that sense, the performances performances of myself and all my teammates really boost our self-belief in our game”.
