The third edition of the Major League Cricket (MLC) got underway today at the Oakland Coliseum in California with the match between San Francisco Unicorns and Washington Freedom. While a lot of international superstars featured in the tournament opener, Sanjay Krishnamurthi, an Indian origin player, hogged the limelight with his blitzkrieg of 36 runs off just 20 balls.
Coming out to bat at number four after the dismissal of Jake Fraser McGurk, Sanjay got going almost from the word go. He failed to connect a few at the start but found his touch when Rachin Ravindra was introduced into the bowling attack. He took apart the Kiwi player, smashing him for four consecutive sixes. Let us know more about the 22-year-old youngster.
Sanjay Krishnamurthi was born and brought up in Bengaluru
Sanjay Krishnamurthi is from Bengaluru, and like most of the Indian kids, he harboured dreams of playing cricket for India. He joined an academy in Bengaluru, played zonal cricket and also represented his state at the U16 level. Interestingly, Sanjay was born in the United States and his family moved from Arizona to Karnataka in 2011. But he remained an American citizen.
A call-up that changed his life
With tough competition in India to make it to the national team, he made a wise decision after he was called up for the trial with the Major League Cricket (MLC) in 2019, which was still in his early days. Moreover, he revealed that he is an OCI cardholder which made him ineligible to play for Karnataka. To play for India, he had to give up his US citizenship. It was a long process, and this is when he made a wise call to play cricket in the USA.
"From the moment I started playing cricket in India, the goal was to play for India. But I think I was also realistic that it could happen. But I can't bank on anything happening. Because there are so many other players. Another thing is I'm an OCI cardholder. I'm not an Indian citizen. After I player for Karnataka, they made the rule that OCI cardholders can't play for the state.
"So, in order to play for India, I'd have to completely give up my US citizenship, and it would be a very long process," Krishnamurthi said while speaking to the Times of India.
COVID-19 - A blessing in disguise for Sanjay Krishnamurthi
As fate would have it, a camp in Mumbai was followed by another in Houston at MLC for him. What was supposed to have been a three-week stay in the US was prolonged for him due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. In 2021, he made his ODI debut for the USA after his teammate Aaron Jones got injured during the tri-series in Oman.
An international debut in 2021
Till now, he has played 14 ODIs and 9 T20Is for USA, scoring 255 and 90 runs in the two formats. At the MLC, he has played 10 matches now (including the one that happened today in California) and scored 205 runs at a strike rate of 142.36 with a half-century to his name. The 22-year-old certainly has a bright future with the kind of talent he possesses and can take cricket in the USA to places.
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