New Zealand’s Performance Analyst Saurabh Walkar living something he never dreamt of Premium
The Hindu
Saurabh Walkar, a former Mumbai Ranji Trophy player, is thrilled to be the Performance Analyst for the New Zealand team for the 2023 Men's World Cup in India. After 18 months with Afghanistan's national team, including the 2021 T20 World Cup, and a successful stint with Manchester Originals, he was surprised to be approached by New Zealand Cricket. Matt Henry is the Kiwi who eats his brain the most, asking for data, numbers, stats, videos, ground conditions, and more. Walkar's role is to work in tandem with the captain and coach, and he cites an example from his The Hundred stint with Manchester Originals. He grew up playing cricket at Shivaji Park and found his calling when he noticed a video analyst at a camp. Dropping out of engineering, he was appointed Mumbai's Ranji Trophy team analyst in 2006-07. Walkar's journey has been a fairytale and he'd do it all again.
He has been a part of Mumbai’s celebrated Ranji Trophy outfit on multiple occasions. From T10 and The Hundred to the T20 World Cup in 2021, he has been a part of various cricket set-ups across the globe.
Still, Saurabh Walkar is thrilled with his current assignment — as the New Zealand team’s Performance Analyst for the 2023 Men’s World Cup.
“I cannot even call it a dream come true since I had never ever dreamt of anything like this. I was hooked to cricket as a school kid while watching the 1996 World Cup in India. And to be a part of a team set-up for another World Cup in India is just inexplicable,” Walkar said.
Walkar has been operating as an analyst for almost two decades.
Despite having worked with Afghanistan’s national team for 18 months, including the T20 World Cup in UAE in 2021, and having had a successful stint with Manchester Originals, he was surprised when he was approached by New Zealand Cricket (NZC) to check whether he was interested in being associated with the team for the World Cup.
“I had never worked with any member of the New Zealand set-up for the World Cup till then, so I was slightly taken aback, so I asked them what made them reach out to me and I was told Simon Katich had recommended my name to Simon Insley (NZC’s Performance Manager),” Walkar said.
Katich, the former Australia batter, has been with the Manchester franchise in The Hundred for the last two seasons that Walkar has been a part of. Impressed by Walkar’s performance, Katich suggested his name to NZC since it was looking for “an analyst who had the experience of having worked with different set-ups and at different locations in India”.
Asian Games champion Avinash Sable opened his season in the 3000m steeple chase with a silver in the Portland Track Festival, a World Athletics Continental Tour bronze event, in Oregon on Saturday. He clocked 8:21.85s. Asian champion Parul Chaudhary took the bronze in the women’s 3000m steeple chase in a season-best 9:31.38s. Former Asian bronze medallist Sanjivani Jadhav struck gold in the women’s 10,000m in 32:22.77s, a time which was a second off her personal best, while Seema was sixth in 32:55.91s.