United States · Bowler

Saurabh Netravalkar Age, Stats, 116 ODI Wickets and MLC Records

Saurabh Netravalkar is a 34-year-old United States left-arm fast-medium bowler and Washington Freedom player. His current international record lists 116 wickets from 74 ODIs and 42 wickets from 44 T20Is, including a best of 5/12. Netravalkar also defended 18 runs in the Super Over against Pakistan at the 2024 T20 World Cup, led the 2024 Major League Cricket wicket chart with 15 wickets and helped Washington win that season's title. He remained a central USA and Washington bowling option across both competitions in 2026.

By StumpScope Cricket Desk · Edited by StumpScope Editorial Team

Right-handedLeft-arm fast-medium bowlerBorn 16 October 1991

Official Washington Freedom squad directory and exact named 600 by 600 player portrait retained for editorial use ↗

Current squadWashington FreedomMajor League Cricket · Complete official 2026 squad and completed campaign

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Full nameSaurabh Naresh Netravalkar

Age34As of 22 August 2026

Date of birth16 October 1991Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Batting styleRight-handed

Bowling styleLeft-arm fast-medium

Career overview

Saurabh Netravalkar cricket career

Born 16 October 1991 in Mumbai; age 34 on 22 August 2026.

Left-arm fast-medium bowler with 116 ODI and 42 T20I wickets in the current record.

First USA bowler to reach 100 ODI wickets, achieved in 2025.

MLC 2024 leading wicket-taker with 15 wickets as Washington Freedom won the title.

Retained by Washington Freedom for 2026 and led the club with 13 wickets through the league stage.

Career story

Saurabh Netravalkar career and playing journey

Who is Saurabh Netravalkar?

Saurabh Naresh Netravalkar is a United States international bowler born on 16 October 1991 in Mumbai, Maharashtra. He bats right-handed and bowls left-arm fast-medium. Netravalkar was 34 on 22 August 2026 and remained active for both USA and Washington Freedom during the year.

His career has an unusual but clearly documented cricket path: India Under-19 representation, a brief senior Mumbai career, a move to the United States, captaincy of USA's first official T20I team and a later role as the country's leading ODI wicket-taker. Those stages belong to one player record, but youth, domestic, international and franchise performances remain separate statistical scopes.

Netravalkar's India Under-19 pathway

Netravalkar led India's new-ball attack at the 2010 Under-19 World Cup. ICC's pre-tournament coverage noted that he had won player of the series in South Africa after taking eight wickets in three matches. Washington Freedom's official profile records that he finished the World Cup as India's highest wicket-taker, a useful early indication of the control and left-arm angle that later defined his USA career.

He shared that India Under-19 squad with players including KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Harshal Patel and Jaydev Unadkat. Youth selection did not make him a senior India international, and those wickets do not count in his USA totals. After a limited senior domestic opportunity with Mumbai, he moved to the United States and rebuilt his cricket career through a different national pathway.

How did Saurabh Netravalkar begin playing for USA?

Netravalkar became eligible for the United States and was trusted with leadership early. ICC reported in February 2019 that he would captain USA on its first official T20I tour, a two-match series against the United Arab Emirates. In the second match, he took 2/28 and was one of USA's most effective bowlers despite the team losing by 24 runs.

That first T20I assignment came before USA secured ODI status later in 2019. At the World Cricket League Division Two tournament in Namibia, Netravalkar took 3/50 against the hosts in a two-run win. The result contributed to the campaign that moved USA into official ODI cricket and gave his left-arm seam a larger, regular international role.

Saurabh Netravalkar ODI stats

The current ODI record on this page lists 74 matches, 116 wickets and best bowling of 5/32. Cricket Australia's current table records 636.1 overs, 2,620 runs conceded and an average of 22.58 per wicket. The same table records two five-wicket hauls, 168 batting runs and 17 catches. These figures describe his USA ODI career through 12 June 2026.

Washington Freedom records that Netravalkar became the first bowler to take 100 ODI wickets for USA in 2025. Reaching 100 did not reset the total; the later 116-wicket figure includes that milestone. His 116 ODI wickets also sit within the wider List A record, so the two rows should not be added together.

Saurabh Netravalkar List A and first-class records

Netravalkar's dated List A record contains 99 matches and 152 wickets at 23.51, with best bowling of 5/32 and two five-wicket hauls. It also lists 248 runs and 23 catches. List A cricket includes his 74 ODIs, which means the remaining matches came from qualifying domestic or representative one-day competitions rather than a second set of international appearances.

His first-class record is much smaller: one match, three wickets at 25.66 and best innings figures of 2/42. The contrast is central to understanding his career. Netravalkar developed into a major limited-overs bowler for USA and franchise teams; he did not build an equivalent multi-season red-ball record.

Saurabh Netravalkar T20I stats and 5/12 record

Washington Freedom's current player page lists 44 T20Is, 42 wickets, 875 balls and 1,049 runs conceded. That produces a bowling average of 24.98, economy rate of 7.19 and strike rate of 20.83. His best return is 5/12 against Singapore, and his batting contribution across the same record is 42 runs with a highest score of 12.

The 5/12 came during the 2022 T20 World Cup Qualifier B. ICC's tournament report records that spell in a 132-run USA victory that secured a semi-final place. It remains his only T20I five-wicket haul in the current record. The achievement is one match performance already included within the 42-wicket total.

What did Netravalkar do against Pakistan in the 2024 T20 World Cup?

Netravalkar took 2/18 from four overs as USA restricted Pakistan to 159 in Dallas on 6 June 2024. After USA matched that total, he bowled the Super Over with 18 runs to defend and held Pakistan to 13. The five-run Super Over victory became USA's most prominent result of the tournament and put the co-hosts in position to reach the Super Eight stage.

The regulation spell and Super Over must be read separately. His 2/18 counts in the T20I bowling table; deliveries and dismissals in the Super Over do not get added to his ordinary four-over figures. The Super Over still matters because it shows the specific high-pressure role USA assigned him after more than five years in international cricket.

Netravalkar's wickets against India and 2024 World Cup record

Against India in New York, Netravalkar dismissed both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. Washington Freedom's season review records that he finished the 2024 T20 World Cup as USA's leading wicket-taker with six wickets from six matches, averaging 20.83 and taking a wicket every 18.83 balls. USA advanced from a group containing India and Pakistan before playing in the Super Eight stage.

Those six wickets form part of his 2024 T20I total of 17 wickets from 16 matches. The World Cup record is narrower than the calendar-year record, and neither should be presented as a lifetime tally. Keeping those scopes separate makes the Pakistan and India performances useful evidence without inflating his overall numbers.

Saurabh Netravalkar at the 2026 T20 World Cup

ICC named Netravalkar in USA's 15-player squad for the 2026 T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka. He appeared in three tournament matches and took two wickets according to Washington Freedom's current season breakdown. Before the competition, he also took 2/37 in a warm-up defeat to New Zealand; warm-up figures are not part of his T20I career record.

USA's squad selection came during a period of administrative difficulty for USA Cricket, with the ICC and the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee involved in the selection process. Netravalkar's presence supplied experience from the 2024 run, but the 2026 tournament figures were considerably more modest and should be described on their own terms.

Saurabh Netravalkar's MLC 2023 record and 6/9

Netravalkar joined Washington Freedom for the inaugural Major League Cricket season in 2023. He took 10 wickets from six matches at an average of 15.90 and strike rate of 13.10, finishing joint fourth on the competition wicket list. His best return was 6/9 against San Francisco Unicorns, which Washington described as the best bowling figures in MLC at the time.

A six-wicket spell in a T20 match is rare because each bowler can deliver only four overs. The 6/9 belongs to his MLC and overall T20 record, not to his T20I row. That distinction is especially important for Netravalkar because his domestic franchise achievements are sometimes discussed alongside his USA performances.

How Netravalkar led MLC 2024 bowling

Netravalkar finished MLC 2024 as the competition's leading wicket-taker with 15 wickets from seven matches. Washington Freedom's final season review gives an average of 13.46 and strike rate of 10.53, with best bowling of 4/35 against Los Angeles Knight Riders. He followed 10 wickets in 2023 with 15 in 2024, reaching 25 across the league's first two seasons.

Washington finished first in the league stage and beat San Francisco Unicorns in the final to win its first MLC title. Netravalkar's 15 wickets were a season award-level bowling contribution, but the championship remains a team achievement. His figures explain his role in the campaign without assigning the entire title to one player.

Saurabh Netravalkar in MLC 2026

Washington Freedom retained Netravalkar as one of nine domestic players for MLC 2026. He took the first Freedom wicket of the season against Seattle Orcas and, by the end of the ten-match league stage, led the club's bowling chart with 13 wickets. Washington finished third and entered the playoffs rather than qualifying directly for the title match.

Freedom then won the Eliminator against MI New York and the Challenger against San Francisco Unicorns before losing the final to Los Angeles Knight Riders by one run. Netravalkar took 1/35 in the Challenger. He added two wickets across Washington's three playoff matches and finished MLC 2026 with 15 wickets from 12 appearances. The 13-wicket league-stage subtotal remains separate so the playoff wickets are not silently folded into an earlier cutoff.

Is Saurabh Netravalkar still with Washington Freedom?

Yes. Washington Freedom's 2026 retention announcement, season preview, match reports and official squad profile all place Netravalkar in the completed 2026 campaign. He is treated as a domestic player under MLC roster rules and remains the franchise's leading wicket-taker across its early seasons.

The current-team label describes his primary 2026 franchise relationship, not exclusive employment or a promise about 2027. Netravalkar has also appeared in other franchise competitions, including for St Kitts and Nevis Patriots in the CPL and Sharjah Warriorz in ILT20. Each appearance belongs to his wider T20 record but not to Washington's MLC totals.

How Netravalkar's bowling role works

Netravalkar creates a different release angle as a left-arm seamer and has been used with the new ball, through middle overs and at the end of innings. Washington's 2024 review noted that he struck in all phases and improved his dot-ball percentage while reducing his average and strike rate from the previous MLC season. The Pakistan Super Over is the clearest international example of his death-over responsibility.

His value is measured primarily through wickets, economy and match situation rather than batting. A bowling average shows runs conceded per wicket, economy shows runs conceded per over and strike rate shows balls per wicket. None tells the whole story alone, which is why the page retains all available measures and adds match context for his most important spells.

How to read Netravalkar's career totals

ODIs are a subset of List A cricket, while T20Is and MLC matches are different subsets of overall T20 cricket. Adding 116 ODI wickets to 152 List A wickets would double-count every ODI wicket. Adding the 15 wickets from MLC 2024 to a future overall T20 total would create the same problem if that wider total already included the tournament.

This page therefore labels each row and season figure by scope and cutoff. The T20I row is supported by Washington Freedom's current player record. The ODI row uses the current Cricket Australia record checked 22 August 2026; List A and first-class rows retain their separately labelled 15 February 2026 snapshot. Later MLC results are described from official club reports without being inserted into unrelated international totals.

Saurabh Netravalkar records

Saurabh Netravalkar career statistics and records

Batting, bowling and fielding figures are kept separate by competition and format.

ODI (Cricket Australia, checked 22 August 2026)74matches

Batting

Innings: 38
Runs: 168
High score: 19
Average: 9.88
Strike rate: 58.95
Not outs: 21
100s / 50s: 0/0

Bowling & fielding

Innings: 73
Wickets: 116
Best bowling: 5/32
Average: 22.58
Economy: 4.11
Strike rate: 32.91
Balls: 3,817
Catches / stumpings: 17 catches; stumpings not listed
5w / 10w: 2 / 0

T20I (Washington Freedom, checked 22 August 2026)44matches