Full Time Oracle Engineer Helped US Win First Historic Cricket Match

Select Language:

The United States pulled off a stunning upset on Thursday, narrowly defeating cricket heavyweight Pakistan in a Super Over tiebreaker at the Twenty20 World Cup. This victory is considered one of the biggest upsets in the history of the tournament.

In one of the biggest upsets in Twenty20 World Cup history, the United States edged out cricket heavyweight Pakistan in a Super Over tiebreaker on Thursday.

One of the standout players for the United States is Saurabh Netravalkar, a 32-year-old software engineer at Oracle based in San Mateo.

The left-arm fast bowler, Saurabh Netravalkar, delivered an impressive performance by taking 2-18 off his four overs during regulation play and conceding just 13 runs in the Super Over. This effort sealed the historic win for the U.S. at the Grand Prairie Cricket Stadium in Texas.

His dual role as an engineer and sportsman wasn’t overlooked by Front Office Sports, which tweeted his LinkedIn profile showcasing both of his professions.

In his first U.S. interview, Netravalkar spoke to KTVU on Friday, just a day after the stunning cricket upset. He had arrived in New York at 2 a.m.

He’s in New York ahead of Team USA’s next game against India, his homeland, on June 12th.

Netravalkar shared, “I currently work as a full-time software engineer at Oracle. I moved to the U.S. in 2015 to pursue my graduate degree at Cornell University in New York. After that, I got a job in the Bay Area.

Back in India, where I’m from, I played cricket at quite a good level and was even part of the junior Indian cricket team. Cricket is very popular there, so my passion for it kept me going.

I played social and club cricket on weekends and worked during weekdays; that was my routine for a while.

After finishing my day job, I would head out at night to train indoors for cricket. I made full use of office amenities like the gym to stay fit.

In 2018, I landed a spot on the U.S. national team.”

“I’ve been very grateful to Oracle—especially my team. My manager has been incredibly supportive; when I’m on tour, she allows me the flexibility to work remotely.

As a software engineer, it’s a blessing in disguise that I don’t need to be physically present to do my job. This makes managing both cricket and work much easier.

My cricket coaches and staff have also been very understanding if I have work commitments during training periods,” he added.