From Wankhede to Oracle: Cricketer-turned-AI engineer Saurabh Netravalkar on why data analytics is becoming core to sports 

Saurabh Netravalkar

Saurabh Netravalkar, an AI engineer at Oracle, got an opportunity to relive his cricketing dreams again when he was selected to play in the T20 World Cup 2024. Previously the captain of the USA national team, Netravalkar got to represent the country again on the global stage.

Netravalkar's arc from being India's highest wicket taker in the 2010 Under 19 World Cup to becoming a full-time engineer in the US captured the imagination of cricket fans and techies. But Netravalkar shrugs off the interest, attributing this to the support he received from his family and his workplace.

“When I was younger I had a lot of attachment towards wanting to play for team India. But through my yoga journey and education, I became more aware of the fact that you just had to do what you enjoy and love; and detach yourself from the results of those actions,” he told Moneycontrol in an interview on the sidelines of Oracle CloudWorld Tour in Las Vegas.

A rather tall, composed and calm personality off-ground, the 32-year-old left-arm fast bowler garnered a lot of attention during the recent cricketing season for taking wickets of some of the big wigs of both India and Pakistan teams.

The city that gave wings to some of the biggest cricket legends like Sachin Tendulkar and Sunil Gavaskar, was also the place where Netravalkar first started dreaming big. Born on October 16, 1991 to a cricket-enthusiast electronics engineer father and a professor (in nutrition) mother, education was a crucial part of his life growing up even as his family supported his cricket practice.

A liking for the sport starts very early on in the cricket-crazy country. So like most Indian kids, Netravalkar too started playing cricket on streets and the backyards of his neighbourhood in Malad at the age of 10. Later he went on to play in Under 13, Under 15 and Under 19 teams. Playing for India was always the big dream, but he was equally passionate about Science and Technology.

“My family went that extra mile to make sure that I could manage both,” he said.

When his parents weren’t home his grandparents would often chip in to teach a subject or two. His grandfather for instance used to teach him History and share stories from the past. Seeing his father break apart computers and the numerous floppy drives around made him curious about technology.

To balance both his studies and cricket training, the real struggle started when he had to cover the long local train journeys of Mumbai (then Bombay) to reach Churchgate every day.

“After school, my mom or dad used to pick me up and we used to take the train to Churchgate. It's an hour journey from Malad. I used to do my school homework on the way. They (parents) have sacrificed a lot as well in their life for me being able to do what I'm doing now,” he said.

“It was a big grind but I am glad it worked out in the end. I don't know if I go back in time if I will be able to do that again,” he added.

Balancing became the theme of his quick changing career as he went on to play U-19 in New Zealand while pursuing computer engineering degree between 2009 to 2013. It was the toughest phase, he recalled.

Some days he felt like giving up too but he focussed on rediscovering his love for what he was doing. In fact, he thinks the low phases helped him evaluate the choices and sacrifices he made to stick to the game better.

“There are tough phases as a sportsperson, you lose more than you win. And that's the fact of life, I'd say,” he says, “But then you realise that once you ride through that, the light comes at the end of the tunnel.”

While in college, Netravalkar also tried starting up along with a few of his classmates. They launched an android app called CricDeCode app, which supported grassroots-level players to analyse their performances using data.

After completing his under graduation, he went on to play in U-23 team but didn't make it big. He even joined a tech job out of college in 2013, and decided to give up after the first day to focus on cricket. His parents were supportive of his plans and he dedicated the next two years to focus on the sport.

“I trained hard in the offseason and got picked in the national side in the Mumbai team, played for two years for Mumbai. At the same time, I was doing online courses on Coursera to keep my coding skills updated,” he said.

Not having made it to the Indian team or the IPL by 2015, he applied for higher studies in foreign universities. He got an offer from Cornell University which was one of the top institutions for computer science at that time. “At that time, I left the sport and I never expected to play again,” he said.

Things changed once he moved to the US in 2016, and started playing locally with the cricket clubs.

Nowadays, he is often with his laptop either coding or attending video calls with his Oracle team members in between practice. Thanks to his supportive manager, he has been able to compartmentalise his time and prioritise tasks ahead of any major tours.

During his teenage years and Under 19 training, Netravalkar used to practice with several of the current team India players including skipper Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav and KL Rahul. The T20 World Cup made the players reconnect almost after a decade.

Netravalkar shares his experiences meeting Yadav and later Sharma, in the Bay Area where the India captain has his own cricket academy.  “I have been playing or practicing with them since my childhood in Mumbai, it's been nice to reconnect with them…It felt really nostalgic and I am happy for them the way they have risen in their career to being one of the best in the world. I have followed their journey and it's been great that I got the opportunity to share the field with them,” Netravalkar says.

He reminisced sharing the same light-hearted jokes and conversations from the dressing room in the Mumbai camp from years ago when they met at the World Cup pitch. Though they now play in rival teams, Netravalkar called this the beauty of the sport.

“It felt like how old friends meet, it didn't feel like there was that much of a gap,” he says.

When asked what changed over the decade in the way they played their game, Netravalkar shares that along with being better aware of their strength and weaknesses and mental abilities, cricket itself has evolved a lot to become more data analytics and strategy-driven beyond just the cricketer’s own strengths.

“It’s more of a mind game now where the first time you play an opponent, yes there is some unknown factor, but if you are playing the same opponent next time you can't go with the same plan now,” he explains.

In the last two-three years, every professional cricket team has started having an in-house data analyst with them on tours. Before matches, teams would have detailed analysis on each player’s plan and there would be multiple such back up plans too.

Parameters like the condition of the ground, the pitch, who is running in what kind of a form is closely monitored.

For Netravalkar, his knowledge and experience in data, AI and coding came in handy with his cricketing skills.

“Especially with the advent of AI and stuff like that you find patterns that are very subtle which you would not be able to make out usually with the human eye. If you look at the top teams, the margins are so small like you win by 5 runs, 6 runs or so -- those small cues can make a big difference,” he says.

Being a techie in such a scenario does give an edge, he shares. “Because you know how the tech works, you would have an idea about what to look for in the data and analytics. The main thing is you have lot of data but if you don't know what to look for, it's really hard.”

At Oracle, Netravalkar is currently a principal member of the technical staff working on Oracle Database 23ai, the technology giant’s new database technology integrating AI capabilities.

Next up, Netravalkar is gearing up to play the 2026 ICC T20 World Cup for which USA has qualified; for the 2027 World Cup too the team will get a chance to compete in the qualifiers. He is waiting for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, where cricket is expected to be a part, that he called a huge opportunity to popularise the sport within US where it has slowly started finding new fan following.

Finding a place as a World Cup qualifying team, cricket has found a sweet spot in the States. At an organisational level, cricket has grown exponentially in the country in the last 2-3 years with the advent of minor league cricket, major league cricket that started last year. “It had top players from across the globe. Season 2 of that concluded just after the world cup which was a big success. They are building new stadiums every year, so infrastructure is being built, fan following has also exponentially increased especially after the world cup,” he shares.

Work life and training routine continues as he balances his twin interests. He wakes up at 6am, does his yoga and gets to work. After hitting the gym in the evening post work, he sometimes goes for a run at the park near his house. He gets extended lunch breaks for twice a week when he goes for his cricket practice.

When compared to his life back in Mumbai, Netravalkar -- after giving it a few seconds of thought says -- “I think you cut down on a lot of travel time here. I live close to work and I am home at 5.30 pm basically. So I have the evening to myself.” Surely, a pain point every Mumbaikar would relate to.