Rajendra Prasad Mohapatra

News Highlights

  • One has to be better than the best to represent the nation
  • Every cricketer is not lucky enough to play at the highest level despite stellar performances in domestic circuit
  • The situation forces many domestic cricketers to switch their allegiance to another country

International cricket is not everyone's cup of tea. Many talented cricketers find it difficult to make it to the national team due to cut-throat competition. One has to be better than the best to represent the nation. Every cricketer is not lucky enough to play at the highest level despite stellar performances in domestic circuit.
The situation forces many domestic cricketers to switch their allegiance to another country in order to materialise their dream of playing international cricket. Of late USA is requiring the services of many cricketers from various parts of the world and some of the domestic cricketers have joined the bandwagon to live their American dreams. Here is a look at those talented cricketers who are bound for the USA.

Unmukt Chand
Former Indian U-19 skipper Unmukt Chand has recently retired from Indian cricket and he has decided to play international cricket for USA. Under Chand's stewardship India had won the U-19 World Cup in 2012. But he was forced to take the tough decision as he didn't get any backing of the selectors in the Indian senior team.
Chand had a brief IPL stint, but he didn't get much success in the cash rich league. He has a meagre 300 runs from 21 matches including just one half century under his belt. The agressive batsman has played for franchises like Mumbai Indians and Delhi Daredevils.

Timil Patel
The talented all-rounder has played for Gujarat team from 2002-2010. The right-handed batsman and leg-break bowler has also played for India U-19 team in 2003. He decided to move to Los Angeles in 2020 after his career became stagnant in India. He made his T20I debut in USA on 15 March, 2019.

Smit Patel

Smit Patel was one of the chief architects of India's U-19 World Cup triumph in 2012. Once considered as one of the future prospects of India, the wicket-keeper batsman didn't even get an IPL contract. He had once cherished a dream to play for the Indian cricket team, but was forced to switch to US as his career never took off.

Sourav Netravalkar
Sourav Netravalkar was the best bowler for India in 2009 U-19 World Cup with a scalp of nine wickets with an excellent bowling average of 17.22 and economy of 3.11. The left-arm medium-fast bowler also played a Ranji Trophy tie for Mumbai four years later. However, he switched to USA later and so far has played 21 games for that country.

Sunny Sohal
Explosive batsman Sunny Sohal had made his first-class debut for Punjab in 2005. He also played IPL for various franchises like Punjab Kings, Deccan Chargers and Royal Challengers Bangalore. He had 368 runs from 20 IPL games and 1,200 runs under his belt in the domestic circuit. But he was never considered for the India senior team which prompted him to switch to USA. He has carved a niche for himself at various American Leagues with his explosive batting.

Siddharth Trivedi
Siddharth Trivedi is a very familiar name in Indian Premier League (IPL). He was one of the best bowlers for Rajashan Royals to have played the league. The seamer has taken 65 IPL wickets from 75 matches and played domestic cricket for Gujarat and Saurashtra. However, he has a downward curve in IPL after 2023 as BCCI banned him for one year not for reporting a corrupt approach. Then he switched over to a coaching stint with American Cricket Academy and Club. They have also given an offer to Trivedi to play for their team in an Americal League and the adept seamer promptly agreed to them.
 

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