Coaching kids, training indoors, USA’s Indian origin cricket captain Monank gets ready for bigger battles | Cricket News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: It’s not easy to be a full-time professional in a sport which doesn’t have a following apart from the Indian diaspora but USA cricket captain Monank Patel believes that co-hosting 2025 Champions Trophy will help raise the profile of the game in his adopted country.
Patel, a former Gujarat U-19 player, is a rare breed as he plays cricket for a living and is now a national captain, having primarily practised without a coach and largely indoors.
“Cricket is my full-time career. For a living, I coach kids three times a week and it has always been a full-time option for me,” Patel, who was recently in Mumbai, told PTI in an interaction.
There is big Guajarati population in the United States and Patel got a green card back in 2010 and permanently shifted to New Jersey in 2016.
“I was born in India and I got green card in 2010. I moved to USA permanently in 2016. I live in New Jersey,” Patel added.
Patel, a wicketkeeper-batter, has so far played 19 ODIs and 16 T20Is, having made his debut in 2018.
“The USA team has lot of potential to compete against teams at higher level. We have been playing a decent level of cricket for last three years and we had played against teams like Scotland and UAE. I feel we can compete against the better sides in coming says,” said Patel.
The likes of well-known Indian domestic players like Unmukt Chand, Mannan Sharma have now migrated to the USA and Patel believes that it will be up to the cricket board to see if they are good enough to don the national jersey in near future.
“The quality of competition for places in USA side has improved, which attracts many international players but selection process purely depends on selection committee and the cricket board,” he said.
The level of cricket in the United States have improved with at least 10 states having multiple turf wickets and more than 20 state of art indoor facilities.
“In the last two years, we have had 20-plus new indoor facilities which have opened across states. There are at least 10 states where we have 2-3 turf wickets. I can say that since last two years, infrastructure has been developing really well,” he said.
In the USA, it is not easy to hire a personal coach and hence Patel trains alone at his academy and records footages of his sessions which is then analysed by the national team coach and his own father, who was an ex-cricketer.
One needs to give credit to Patel and his ilk that they play international cricket after playing weekend club tournaments and two national level tournaments in 50 and 20 overs.
“We have the national 50-over tournament involving teams from East Coast, North Coast, South Coast, Central Coast and also a Minor League T20 that happens every year. The national team is selected based on performances in these two tourneys. The club matches are held on weekends,” he signed off.