00:01Hi, I have a question for each of them.
00:05Saurabh, can you just state the obvious,
00:08can you just spell out what tomorrow will mean for you personally and the family
00:13to be playing at the Wankhede in an international game finally?
00:17Yeah, personally it feels like a full circle moment for me
00:21because I learnt my cricket here, I grew up in Mumbai
00:25and getting an opportunity to play at Wankhede
00:28which has been my dream since childhood as well.
00:31So nostalgic, emotional, good to see,
00:35I am looking forward for my family, friends to be there and I will give my best.
00:41And Sanjay, you are one of the few Native Americans
00:46who have actually risen through the ranks and being a part of this whole occasion.
00:52What does it signify for Native Americans or those from your side of the group
01:01and for the overall American cricket scenario?
01:05Yeah, I think for all Americans this is a special moment for our country,
01:10you know, to be able to come here and play cricket in, you know,
01:14one of the most iconic stadiums against one of the best teams in the world right now.
01:19And I think it's going to inspire a future generation of cricketers to come
01:23and, you know, rise through the ranks in American cricket.
01:27Saurabh, hi. Your performance in 2024 both as an individual and as a team was discussed a lot here.
01:42How do you think the journey has been since then for the team
01:46and how that experience will help especially in tomorrow's game which is the first one for the World Cup?
01:52Yeah, I think since then we've grown a lot in experience as a unit
01:58with obviously three seasons of Major League Cricket.
02:02Quite a few of our guys have gotten good gigs in franchise leagues around the world.
02:08So that experience, it definitely helps.
02:11We've been playing also the 50 over qualifiers for 2027 World Cup
02:17and so far so good. We are top of the table. We are doing decently.
02:21So that experience has increased and hopefully it shows on the field.
02:26Saurabh, last time you guys pulled off a stunning upset over Pakistan.
02:31Are you confident of repeating that feat again?
02:34Well, I wouldn't want to talk about the results.
02:37Here obviously 2024 was a different condition to play in.
02:42It was little more bowler friendly. Pitches were different.
02:46Subcontinent challenges are different. There will be huge crowds, more batter friendly pitches,
02:51less margin for error like I am talking as a bowler.
02:54So different challenges but we've prepped our best.
02:59We were a month in Sri Lanka. We had decent training facilities.
03:03So we just want to take one game at a time and play a good brand of cricket.
03:07And that's what we'll judge ourselves by than the results.
03:10I mean the results can go either way, T20 cricket.
03:13So yeah.
03:15Hi Saurabh.
03:17You know the makeup of the USA team gives them a very unique advantage
03:22because it's very cosmopolitan in nature.
03:24Where you know when you're coming to a venue like this, of course your experience,
03:27you want your experience to come good.
03:30Then you're going to Colombo and someone like Shehan could chip in.
03:33And if you get pitches where there's semblance of pace and bounce,
03:36someone like Andries or Shadley, the South African born players,
03:40will of course, they'll be helping in their own way.
03:43How important do you think it is to have players who have grown playing across all sorts of conditions
03:52so that you guys are accustomed to everything that is thrown your way
03:56in a way that you are not really bothered by the conditions.
03:59How does that help USA cricket team?
04:02Yeah, it definitely helps to have people who have learnt the sport in different parts of the globe.
04:08They'll have their own unique inputs to the same situations.
04:14And the more we play together, the more we are playing together,
04:17we are learning from each other, the way they prepare, the way they adapt themselves.
04:21So yeah, I could say that could be our strength.
04:24And we've bonded well as a team like in the last 2-3 years.
04:28We've come together as a unit, yeah.
04:31Hi Saurabh.
04:32Last edition you took the wickets, most important wickets of India
04:35which was Birat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.
04:37This season we don't have them but at the same time we have some batters
04:40who can really take up the game.
04:41So what's the plan against them like Ishaan, Abhishek and Surya Kumar Yadav especially?
04:46So like I said here the focus will more be on minimizing the damage.
04:51Like you are saying there are high scoring pitches here.
04:54So every ball that we bowl to the field, as long as we bowl to the field,
05:01we bowl to our matchups and maximize our chances.
05:06I think defense might be the best attack on this kind of pitches
05:10and hopefully we induce a mistake or a false shot.
05:13So that's the best we can do as bowlers I guess in these conditions.
05:16Saurabh, you and a few others have played domestic cricket here in India
05:23before migrating to US.
05:25Now that familiarity of those conditions as well as you said in the last couple of years
05:31you all have experience of playing Major League Cricket and a few other franchises.
05:36So does that give a little more confidence coming into the World Cup
05:40and especially with a lot of spotlight on India and Pakistan in the group?
05:46So you mean us being used to subcontinent?
05:50Yeah, some of you all have played domestic cricket here before going.
05:54So you are aware of the conditions at age group level and even Ranji as well.
05:59Yeah, it definitely helps.
06:01But frankly speaking, it's been a long time.
06:04Like last I played in India would be 2014, 2015.
06:07So things have changed drastically.
06:09The game itself has changed drastically.
06:11It's become so much more aggressive from the batter's perspective.
06:16So I wouldn't compare it.
06:18Yes, the experience helps, but the game is very different.
06:21Yeah, hello.
06:24So there has been a lot of brouhaha over India and Pakistan in this region
06:28for not shaking hands and all the rest of the stuff.
06:31And there you are, your team beautifully,
06:33as both Indians and Pakistan origin players.
06:36So as a senior guy, at any point,
06:38did you have to sort of address the issue?
06:40How to, you know, what to do about this?
06:42How are we going to gel together?
06:44Or just to, you know, keep a noise out?
06:46Anything like that just to get the, to address the issue basically?
06:50I mean, from our perspective, we are a group of people
06:54from multiple countries across the globe.
06:57And what brings us together is the love of the game.
07:01And we are proud to represent the USA.
07:04And that's what we focus on.
07:07I think we don't think about anything else.
07:09So let's never talk about these things at all.
07:11I don't think so.
07:12I don't think so, no.
07:21Hello Swarov.
07:22Most of the teams find difficult when playing Varun Chakravarti or Ashdeep,
07:27wild yawkers.
07:28Wild yawkers.
07:29How do you think you can play to both of the mystery baller and a wild yawker fast baller?
07:37If I get to bat, our team will be in trouble.
07:40So I'll let the batsmen take that question.
07:43Yeah, I think Major League experience has helped us.
07:46You know, we played some of the best bowlers such as Narayan or Noor Ahmed, Rashid Khan.
07:50So I think, you know, they're all quality bowlers but we know that they do miss as well.
07:55And I think we back ourselves when we get the opportunity.
08:11One question to each one of you.
08:13Saurabh, how have you in specific prepared against the top-order Indian batters
08:17when on song seem to be unstoppable?
08:19Also, if you can talk about the dually conditions which we can expect in this tournament.
08:24And Sanjay, if you can talk about the absence of Aaron Jones in that batting line-up,
08:28obviously an experienced batter who is not around.
08:30How much does it affect your batting plans heading into this tournament?
08:36I'll take it first.
08:37So from a bowling perspective on flat-up, which is obviously the main thing is
08:43to be proactive and anticipate what the batter is trying to do.
08:50So it will be more of a mental game than a skill-based game.
08:54Obviously the skills you have to execute.
08:56But there is some kind of a chess game going on there.
08:59So we'll try to do our analysis, see the patterns of how batters score their runs
09:04and try to bowl the best ball that gives us the best chance to minimize the damage
09:11or induce a false shot, like I said.
09:13And give our batters the best chance of scoring the total.
09:17Or if our batters have scored the total, we'll try our best to defend it.
09:21Yeah.
09:22Yeah.
09:23Aaron's obviously a senior player in this team and he performed very well last World Cup.
09:27But we have, you know, a whole batting line-up full of batters with quite a bit of experience.
09:32And over the last two years in franchise cricket, most of us have done quite well.
09:36So I think, yeah, we're going to miss him.
09:39But at the same time, I think our batting line-up is still well equipped to fill up that gap.
09:44Sanjay, my question is to you.
09:46You are pretty young and with the USA consistently now playing ICC tournaments,
09:51how is it motivating the younger kids, the local Americans to pick up cricket?
09:56It is a new sport in the country, I understand.
09:58But how it is motivating the younger generation to, you know, pick up cricket
10:02and make it as a profession for their future?
10:06Yeah.
10:07I think once Major League started, we saw a lot of kids, you know,
10:10see a future career possibility in cricket.
10:13And then last World Cup, really, you know, I was doing some part-time coaching
10:18at an academy and I saw, you know, quite a few new parents putting their kids into cricket.
10:23And I see, just in general, there's a lot more kids thinking about cricket as more than just a hobby.
10:29It's now something that could become a profession.
10:31So it's really exciting to see how this can grow in the next five to ten years.
10:36Yeah.
10:37Sanjay, just a follow-up question from that.
10:39Growing up in America, you must have seen there's another hand-eye coordination sport
10:43called baseball, which is very big in the States.
10:46So do you think the Americans can sort of draw similarities and maybe the, you know,
10:50sport cricket can also grow on them?
10:52Absolutely.
10:53Yeah.
10:54Actually, when I first went to the US, I worked with the baseball coach to work on power hitting
10:58because that's something that I think they're miles ahead of cricket
11:02and because power hitting is a pretty recent addition to cricket.
11:06You know, it's usually high elbow technical is how you're taught.
11:09So I think there's a lot that you can learn from baseball as well as the throwing technique is very, very good.
11:16So I think, you know, in the US, we have the best baseball coaches
11:20and I think we can really make use of that and that can help us, yeah.
11:25Saurabh, USA cricket team has seen a bunch of coaches over the period of time.
11:32In fact, Pubudu has been on and off with the team.
11:35What does he bring to this team?
11:37He's been very special to the team for me personally as well because I made my debut under him in 2018
11:44and 2019 we got ODI status and now he's back again a nostalgic moment for us.
11:52What he brings specifically to the table is he eats, breathes and lives cricket
11:58and he likes to have no stone unturned.
12:02He makes sure he pushes us to the best in all aspects, skills, fitness, mental preparation
12:10and yeah, it's tough, but it's what we need to do to get to the next level.
12:15So I'm happy that he's here with us.
12:23Hi guys, Vishal from Cricket4.
12:25Surya Kumar was here some time back and he was saying that since the Indian team
12:30doesn't play a lot of associate teams apart from World Cups,
12:33it was almost like a disadvantage because of the unknown factor in terms of preparation.
12:38How do you all see it because you must be playing India and Pakistan again after one and a half years.
12:43So is it a disadvantage or an advantage that you can spring a surprise actually?
12:49Novelty factor, yeah, I guess it would be true because they'll have less data on us,
12:57but obviously they are far more skillful and experienced and they're one of the best teams in the world.
13:02So that's a challenge for us to then step up and see what best we can do.
13:06But the format itself has some kind of a luck factor.
13:10So if the right guys build the right partnership or we have the few key moments go for us,
13:18then we can give a good fight, I guess.
13:20But yeah, we'll give our best, we'll see.
13:23Yeah, to answer that question, I think that yes, we're probably more unknown to them,
13:30but also there's quite a bit of videos going around.
13:33So I think they would have done their homework as ever.
13:36You know, we would have done our homework as well on them.
13:39And I think it's going to be, you know, an even contest in that point of view.
13:42Obviously, like you said, you know, they play a lot more than us.
13:47And yeah, it's their home conditions as well, but we're going to give it our best.
13:53One last question.
13:54Just one follow-up.
13:56Is everyone available for selection?
13:59I think so.
14:01As per now, we'll see how it's going on.
14:03Yeah, the physio is evaluating everybody.
14:06One last question.
14:12Thank you very much.
14:14Just as a parting note, I really wanted to know how many weeks of leaves have you got sanctioned for the tournament?
14:25So far as for the league stages, then we'll see how we go.
14:29Thank you so much.
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