Saurabh Netravalkar has been a vital cog in the USA setup for the T20 World Cup 2024. He scalped two wickets against Pakistan to take the match to the Super Over where the minnows registered an upset over the 2009 champions.

Netravalkar, the engineer turned cricketer, will be next seen in action against heavyweights India on Wednesday. The medium pacer revealed that he shares a long-time bond with World No.1 T20 batter Suryakumar Yadav as he has known him since the U-15 days.

Incidentally, the Mumbai-born player has featured in the Team India U-19 squad before switching to play for the US.

“Suryakumar has been a close friend, actually. I’ve seen him since our under-15 days; we kind of grew up playing for Mumbai together. He was always special, scoring double hundreds and stuff in under-15 and under-17 matches,” Netravalkar said speaking on Star Sports.

“He got a chance to play for India later than I expected, but I’m really happy for him. I’m excited to meet him, and it’s an opportunity to play not just against him but also against a lot of the guys we played with. I don’t know how to get Surya out, but I think I’ll just try to do my role, what the team needs me to do,” Netravalkar added.

The 32-year-old has featured in 29 matches in the shortest format of the game. He has scalped 29 wickets with the best bowling figures of 5/12 at a decent average of 20.79. He has one five-wicket haul to his name.