NEW DELHI: After a respectable first-class career, some were looking for greener pastures; others were hoping for a second chance at life; and still others were just talented enough to be forced to find an obscure cricket ground on a weekend.
T20 WORLD CUP: SCHEDULE | POINTS TABLEMeet the stars of the USA's T20 World Cup debut, which shocked the cricket world by defeating Pakistan, the finalists of the previous edition, in Dallas:
Monank Patel: The team's captain, who was born in Ahmedabad, is one of the few individuals who moved to essentially pursue his cricketing career. He was awarded player of the match for his half century. In 2010, he obtained a Green Card, and in 2016, he moved permanently to New Jersey.
A powerful right-hander, when he's not playing for his country, he also teaches cricket to kids living abroad three times a week and runs coaching clinics. Turf wickets were scarce in the USA at first, and Monank has participated in numerous 20- and 30-over weekend club events throughout the nation in addition to playing a lot of matting cricket.
Saurabh Netravalkar: Netravalkar is the epitome of a happy union between academia and athletics. He rose to prominence following a brilliant Super Over, and before that he squared up Mohammed Rizwan with an away swinger and tricked Iftikhar Ahmed with a low sinking slow full-toss.
During the 2010 World Cup in New Zealand, he faced some of the best U-19 English cricket players, including Joe Root, Jos Buttler, and Ben Stokes. Known as "Netra" at the time, he combined well with fellow left-arm seamer Jaydev Unadkat and Sandeep Sharma of Punjab.
But just like in Mumbai, one must be the best in order to live; being good is insufficient. The academically gifted young man, who already had an engineering degree in computer science, was awarded a scholarship to study for an MS at Cornell University.
But sport never left him. To establish himself, he competed at all levels of US cricket and put on a respectable performance in Major League sport's inaugural season, which featured several of the best T20 players in the world.
He works as a senior technologist at Oracle's Silicon Valley division, away from cricket.
Harmeet Singh: As with many young talents, he lost his way, but Ian Chappell wanted him to be inducted into the Indian team after his performances in the 2012 U-19 World Cup. When he was caught by the police driving inside a train station, rumors about his lack of discipline spread quickly, and Mumbai cricket turned its back on him.
As a professional, he relocated to Tripura, but he had little luck there. He made the wise decision to immigrate to the United States. Including a recent series against Bangladesh, he has been among the most reliable players since finding his groove again. With the ball in Rizwan's hands, he swiped extra runs during the Super Over.
Nosthush Kenjige: Not sure if Kenjige has heard the well-known country song "I come from Alabama" by Stephen C. Foster, the father of American music, but being born in that well-known Southeast, Kenjige's story as a Tamil-American is intriguing.
He used to be a left-arm medium pacer before learning to spin at the age of thirteen. He had moved to Ooty with his parents when he was a young child. Kenjige's parents sent him to Bengaluru when he was eighteen years old, where he participated in the KSCA's first division league.
But after realizing how difficult it was to even get into the Karnataka state side, he made the decision to return home and enrol in a bio-medical engineering program.
When he went for the United States, he had given up playing cricket and had not even bothered to pack his equipment. However, a cricket ball that his mother had hidden in his suitcase changed everything. After landing a position in Washington, DC, he played squash in the evenings and learned about club cricket in New York.
After that, he quit his position as a Bio-Medical officer and joined the USA's WCL Division 4 team.
Milind Kumar: When Milind Kumar first arrived, everyone in the Delhi circuit scene thought he was a good talent. However, after seven years, he was reduced to a supporting role and frequently left to bat with the tail in Ranji Trophy matches. Moving to Sikkim in the Plate League and scoring over 1300 runs did not prove to be the lucky break he had hoped for.
He moved to the US after COVID-19 and performed well in local competitions to secure a spot in the 15. He was an excellent fielder, even for Delhi, and Iftikhar Ahmed would have learned his lesson the hard way in the Super Over. Pakistan's aspirations were dashed by the catch, leaping forward after racing ten yards from the long-off boundary.
Nitish Kumar: Whether you live in India or the US, now is a great time to be a Nitish Kumar. School-going Nitish set a world record in 2011 when MS Dhoni struck that massive six-ball to win the World Cup and Virat Kohli was just starting to make waves as the next big thing. At 16 years old, Nitish played a 50-over World Cup match for Canada against Zimbabwe, becoming the youngest player to do so.
His moment of glory came thirteen years ago when he hit the boundary off Haris Rauf's final delivery. As Ian Bishop would have said: "Remember the Name, Nitish Kumar."
Jaspreet "Jessy" Singh: Jessy, who was born in New Jersey, raised in a rural Punjabi household, and is currently in his teens, has spent a considerable amount of time in the land of opportunity.
He was left out of the US squad that traveled to the West Indies to compete in a domestic 50 over competition in 2015. In order to double his practice hours, Jessy left everything.
Former US coach Pubudu Dassanayeke organized five first-class matches in Sri Lanka in 2016, which is where he discovered the value of perseverance. He has become an essential member of Pakistani Ali Khan's speed attack over the last few years. Without a doubt, the delivery that struck Babar Azam out was the best of his career thus far.
T20 WC: USA beat Pakistan in Super Over thriller
(With PTI inputs)