The unmistakable Indian touch in USA’s WC squad

Perhaps USA players lining up for their opening T20 World Cup match against India on Saturday could be excused in case a few find the urge to participate in the national anthems of both countries: India's Jana Gana Mana and America's The Star-Spangled Banner.

- Sanjjeev K Samyal

Harmeet Singh.

(GETTY IMAGES)

Saurabh Netravalkar, Harmeet Singh, Shubham Ranjane, Milind Kumar and Monank Patel play for the US but are all from India and have learnt their cricket here. Netravalkar, their captain, Harmeet and Ranjane have lived and played in Mumbai and for them, the Wankhede Stadium will also feel more like home. There's no doubting their commitment to the US team, but instincts can often take over when playing against your country of birth. It happened to some of them the last time in New York, when they came up against India for their 2024 T20 World Cup group game. Harmeet has vivid memories of the day.

"There were a lot of players (in the India side) that I had played with. We had reached for that game early. We met nicely, and when time came for the national anthems, we were like, which one to sing? We decided we will sing both," recalled Harmeet who, along with Netravalkar, is a former India Under-19 player.