Meet Milind Kumar – Former Ranji Trophy Top-Scorer Who Will Now Represent USA At T20 World Cup 2024
New Delhi: Co-hosts alongside West Indies, the United States of America (USA) on Friday named their 15-member squad for the T20 World Cup 2024 that is set to start from June 1. While former New Zealand all-rounder Corey Anderson made the squad, there were several Indians too who will be wearing the USA jersey in the mega event. Among the Indians are Monank Patel, Milind Kumar and two U-19 World Cup stars Saurabh Netravalkar and Harmeet Singh. Monank, who played for Gujarat U-16 and U-19 sides, will lead the USA side in the tournament.
While former Mumbai left-arm spinner Harmeet was a part of the title-winning Indian side at the 2012 U-19 World Cup, he also played for Rajasthan Royals in 2013 and state cricket for Tripura. Another Mumbai cricketer, Nethravalkar, played in the 2010 U-19 World Cup, the batch that saw stars like KL Rahul, Jaydev Unadkat and Mayank Agarwal going on to represent the senior Indian team. However, a couple of renowned Indians and members of the 2012 U-19 World Cup-winning team – Unmukt Chand (skipper) and Smit Patel (wicketkeeper) – failed to find a spot in the squad.
Who is Milind Kumar?
A right-handed batter, the 33-year-old Milind made his BCCI first-class and List-A debuts for Delhi in 2011. He played seven seasons in Indian domestic cricket before migrating to USA in search for better opportunities. Besides Delhi, Milind played for states like Sikkim and Tripura.
With 1331 runs in the 2018-19 Ranji Trophy season for Sikkim, Milind finished as the highest run-scorer for the season before making his cricketing debut in the US in 2021 with The Philadelphians in the Minor Cricket League. He was a part of the Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals) and Royal Challengers Bengaluru sides in the Indian Premier League but never got to make his debut in the cash-rich league.
It’s almost time to defend our home turf in the @T20WorldCup! Here is our 15-player squad that will be representing the United States in the World Cup beginning on June 1!#WeAreUSACricket #T20WorldCup #TeamUSA #Cricket pic.twitter.com/phnzT2Ce48
— USA Cricket (@usacricket) May 3, 2024
In the BCCI domestic cricket, Milind played 46 first-class (2988 runs), 65 List-A (2023 runs), and 61 T20 (1196 runs) matches. He bid goodbye to Indian cricket in 2021 and signed with Minor League Cricket in the USA.
Milind had represented Board President’s XI against New Zealand in 2017 and also scored an unbeaten 78 off 85 balls for Delhi against England in a practice match in 2013. For USA, Milind made his T20I debut against Canada, scoring 20 runs in three games. He was also a part of the inaugural Major Cricket League (MLC), playing for Texas Super Kings, owned by the people who run Chennai Super Kings in IPL.
At the T20 World Cup 2024, USA will start their campaign against neighbours Canada on the opening day in a Group A encounter. India, Pakistan and Ireland are the other teams in the group. Like Canada, USA are also making their T20 World Cup debut this time.
USA Squad for T20 World Cup 2024: Monank Patel (c & wk), Aaron Jones (vc), Andries Gous, Corey Anderson, Ali Khan, Harmeet Singh, Jessy Singh, Milind Kumar, Nisarg Patel, Nitish Kumar, Noshtush Kenjige, Saurabh Netravalkar, Shadley Van Schalkwyk, Steven Taylor and Shayan Jahangir.