About 40 Indian-origin players will be part of the T20 world cup across different teams

CHENNAI: They grew up with the dream of playing for India one day. But in a cricketing powerhouse bursting at the seams, that can sometimes feel like threading the eye of a needle.But that hasn’t stopped the likes of Monak Patel, Saurabh Netravalkar, Jaspreet Singh and a few more to be part of the T20 World Cup that will start in India and Sri Lanka on Saturday. Across the 20 teams, 40 players with Indian roots will take the field in different colours, just not in the ‘blue’ jersey. Canada tops the chart with 11 Indian-diaspora players, followed by the USA with nine. Oman and UAE have seven each. Even established sides like New Zealand and South Africa have two and one respectively.Leading the USA team is 32-year-old wicketkeeper-batter Monank, who once played age-group cricket for Gujarat U-19. Speaking about his journey, Monank, who followed his family to the USA after not getting an opportunity in India, said he is grateful for a second chance to play international cricket.“It’s a dream come true for many players in our team. Majority of them learned the game and started their careers in India, so it’s very special. Of course, it feels different to be playing in India for the USA, but we’ve been representing them for a long time now. The decision to play for the USA was actually a ‘meant-to-be’ situation for me. God gave me a second chance to play cricket at the international level,” Monank, who has been a vital cog in the growth of American cricket since his debut in 2019, told TOI.As Italy step onto the World Cup stage for the first time, fast bowler Jaspreet will look to carve out his own journey. Born in Punjab, he once dreamed of playing on these international grounds and is now soaking in the moment.“I came to Italy when I was very young, and today I truly feel it is my home. Every cricketer grows up dreaming of playing in a World Cup, and being here now is honestly hard to put into words. What makes it even more special is that it is being played in India, where everything began for me. As a child, I dreamed of playing on international grounds, the same fields where great players compete, and today that dream has become reality. After so many sacrifices and so much hard work, I can only be grateful, and I want to enjoy every single moment of this experience,” said Jaspreet.Many of them are amateur cricketers. They are in a different profession, because cricket cannot be a full-time career for them. Take the case of Netravalkar, who was quite impressive for USA in the last T20 World Cup. The left-arm pacer is a software professional who often took leave to pursue his cricket dreams. He dismissed two of his heroes Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli in the last World Cup and during an interaction in New York after the match, said: “I am just happy that I can pursue both my passions. The support that I get from my employers does help.”Off-spinner Aryan Dutt’s parents moved from India to the Netherlands before he was born. “I didn’t get the chance to return after the 2023 World Cup, so this makes it even more special. My family will be watching the game and, if time permits, I hope to go and see meet them too,” Aryan said.And it’s not just the players, the teams have members in their support-staff who are Indians. Former Mumbai cricketer Sulakshan Kulkarni is currently Oman’s deputy head coach. He chose to move to Oman to work in a space that offered room for growth, both for the team and for himself. Having coached extensively in India’s domestic circuit, Kulkarni understands the depth of competition back home and sees that as the reasons for so many players eventually looking beyond Indian shores.“This has been happening for years. When players realise how difficult it is to break through in India, they start looking for opportunities elsewhere and nowadays they are coming to that realisation much earlier. If representing another country gives them a chance to play at the Asia Cup or World Cup and earn a living, why wouldn’t they?” said Kulkarni, adding that the Indian quotient adds a lot of spice to these teams.