India as a region has been known to have produced some of the finest cricket players in the world of cricket. And, their talents have not only been utilized by the Indian team but the teams representing countries like the United States of America too. So, here’s a look at the 5 India born players currently a part of the USA Cricket team.
1. Saurabh Netravalkar
A recent addition to the United States Cricket team’s roster, Saurabh Netravalkar, born in Mumbai, is the first player in this list of the Indian-born players currently a part of the USA Cricket team now.
After playing for the India U-19 cricket team and the Mumbai Ranji team in the 2013-14 season, he then went on to play for Mumbai in the Vijay Hazare trophy too. His first appearance in the USA cricketing circles was in the 2017-18 Regional Super 50 Tournament in the West Indies. He has since played in 13 ODIs and 8 T20Is so far, where he has scored 79 runs and 19 runs respectively. With the ball in hand, he has picked up 19 wickets in ODIs and 4 wickets in the T20Is.
2. Jaskaran Malhotra
Born in Chandigarh, Jaskaran Malhotra who made his first appearance for the USA Cricket Team along with Saurabh Netravalkar is the second player of Indian origin who is currently a part of the USA cricket team.
But, unlike Jaskaran Malhotra, he started his run in the world of cricket in the States itself. He was picked in the USA team for the 2017-18 Regional Super 50 tournament and then made his List A debut in the same tournament itself. In August 2018, he was named in the United States’ squad for the 2018–19 ICC World Twenty20 Americas Qualifier tournament in Morrisville, North Carolina. He has played in 5 ODIs and 6 T20Is so far, where he as managed to score 52 runs and 112 runs in the respective formats.
3. Nisrag Patel
Nisarg Patel, the Ahmedabad born cricket player is the third player of Indian origins to play for the USA cricket team and was the part of the team that played in the 2017-18 Regional Super 50 tournament, giving a chance to the two other Indian origin players to play their first games for the country’s cricket team.
Patel’s journey in the world of cricket has not been all that great though, as he had come under the scanner of the authorities in February 2020, for a suspected bowling action and it was not until the February of 2021, a year later that he was cleared of all the allegations. Patel’s performance in the international games has been commendable though. He has scored 142 runs and taken 7 wickets in the 8 ODIs he has played, and in the shortest format of the game, the T20Is, he has picked up 5 wickets and has 5 runs to his name.
4. Timil Patel
The fourth entrant in this list of the Indian-born players currently a part of the USA Cricket team now, Timil Patel is the second player who had started his cricketing journey in India but then moved to the USA to play at the highest level.
Between 2002 and 2010, Patel played for the Gujrat Ranji team and was also a part of the Under 19 Indian Cricket team that toured England in 2003. It was in 2010 that he moved on to play in the USA Cricket team. Often cited to be one of the best all-rounders to have played in the USA cricketing circles, he has not played much at the highest level. He has played in only a single ODI match, where he scored a half-century not out and also took 2 wickets. In T20Is, he has played in 2 games and took 2 wickets in the matches.
5. Monank Patel
The fifth and the last player in this list of Indian-born cricket players who are currently a part of the USA Cricket team, Monak Patel joins in the two other players who played in the Indian circuit, but then made the move to the USA.
He made his List A debut for the United States against Combined Campuses and Colleges on October 6, 2018. But, prior to that, he had made his first appearance in the USA cricket team in the 2018-19 ICC World T20 Americas Qualifiers. On October 22, Patel scored the first century by an American batsman in the tournament in USA’s match against Jamaica. He has one ODI under his belt and 2 T20Is, where he has scored 56 runs in total.