From Delhi dreams to USA colours

The USA team playing in the ongoing T20 World Cup in India has two strong Delhi connections — Milind Kumar and Sohaib Khan. While Milind, who is representing the USA, has played for Delhi in all three formats, UAE batter Sohaib Khan graduated from Jamia Millia Islamia in the Capital and represented the university in inter-varsity tournaments before migrating to the Middle East.

Milind, who turns 35 on February 15, may not have been able to represent India, but has realised his dream after migrating to America. “It’s a good feeling to be playing international cricket, representing a country. But, instead of India, it is the USA. When I started playing cricket, it was a dream to represent a country, and that dream has finally been realised,” Milind told Patriot.

Having migrated to the USA in 2020, Milind says he is content playing international cricket and is already looking forward to appearing in cricket’s biggest limited-overs tournament — the 50-over World Cup in 2027. The USA is among the favourites to qualify for the World Cup, which will be jointly staged in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia.

Milind is settled in Houston, where he has bought a house and a car. When he got married three years ago in America, his family from Delhi flew down to attend the ceremony. “How could I not invite them?” the cricketer said with a smile.

The irony

All the while Milind was playing competitive domestic cricket in India, he was dreaming of representing the country one day. That day, however, never came, as destiny had something else lined up for the solid right-handed batter.

Milind made his international debut in a T20 match against Canada on April 7, 2024. He didn’t get much opportunity to showcase his batting prowess, though, as the USA won comfortably by six wickets and he remained unbeaten on four.

Since then, Milind has played 22 One-day Internationals and 22 T20 Internationals for the USA, including their opening World Cup match against India on February 7 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

Milind appearing against India was ironic, but he gave a fair account of himself, scoring a 34-ball 34 before a rush of blood had him stumped. “I thought the ball had gone past wicketkeeper Ishan Kishan, but it got stuck in his gloves. I was disappointed as I had got a start. And earlier, when we had bowled, we conceded quite a few runs towards the end of the innings,” Milind rued. The USA lost by 29 runs.

Delhi roots

Milind attended Modern School (Barakhamba Road) in New Delhi and sharpened his skills at the famous Sonnet Club run by renowned coach Tarak Sinha. Sinha, however, is no longer alive to see Milind make his T20 World Cup debut, though the cricketer remains indebted to him and the club.

Today, Milind says he doesn’t feel homesick in America, despite being away from his family in Delhi. Asked if he misses the city, he said: “Somewhat, not much. But I am in touch with everyone I played with — Rishabh Pant, Dhruv Shorey, Nitish Rana and others. In fact, Dhruv and I attended Modern School together. Dhruv is doing very well for Vidarbha after leaving Delhi.”

Milind made his first-class debut for Delhi in 2011–12 and played for seven seasons, with limited opportunities and no sustained run until 2017–18. Then, when nine new teams were added to the Ranji Trophy and other tournaments in 2018–19, he moved to Sikkim, one of the new teams, on the advice of coach Sanjeev Sharma, who had become the state’s head coach.

Former India pacer Sharma had seen his potential in Delhi. “I took him to Sikkim because the advantage with him was that he could off-spin as well, besides his batting responsibilities,” Sharma told Patriot.

The move proved to be a masterstroke, as Milind smashed 1,331 runs, including six centuries, in eight matches, though those runs were scored against comparatively weaker teams. “But, mind you, even the pros in the rival teams of Sikkim in that zone were good,” said Sharma, referring to the quality of bowling attacks.

The next year, Milind moved to Tripura for a season before migrating to the USA in 2020.

Coming to America

Even before Milind made the big decision to migrate to the USA, he had been playing in local cricket tournaments there since 2016 during the off-season in Indian cricket.

Milind bid farewell to India by scoring well in the 50-over Vijay Hazare Trophy for Tripura (390 runs in nine matches). “But when I saw that there was no recognition despite doing well in these tournaments, I thought there was no point in carrying on playing in India. The selectors were probably looking at someone else. But that was not my consideration, and selection was not in my control. What I could do was score runs, and I did that,” he pointed out.

“If you had to play at a higher grade, you had to do something extra. Then, suddenly, an opportunity to play in the USA came up, and I took a chance. When I would go there and play, I would feel good — a feeling of calmness and tranquillity — that you were getting rewards for your hard work,” he explained.

Surprised family

Milind reveals that he concealed his decision to migrate to the USA from his family. “When I finally settled down in the USA, I didn’t tell my father. I said I was going there only for three months. But I had made up my mind. From the USA, I told my father that I was not coming back to India. I even sent my resignation to ONGC from there. My father was against my relocating to the USA. He asked why I was quitting my job,” he disclosed.

“He was sad, but not angry. His worry was that I might end up neither being here nor there if things didn’t click. That would be the natural feeling of any parent in such situations. I told him that things were good there and I would continue to work hard and, hopefully, everything would fall in place,” he said.

It did. Milind played for The Philadelphians in Minor League Cricket, for Texas Super Kings in Major League Cricket, and for other teams before graduating to represent the American national team.

Today, Milind admits it was a gamble that paid off. “I agree it was a big risk because an injury could happen to any athlete anytime and end his career, and there’s also the risk of a cricketer losing his form,” he said.

No regrets

Milind, however, has no regrets. “No, not really, because when I left Indian shores, my dream was broken, and I had reconciled to the fact that I couldn’t play for India. My dream was broken, not my heart, because if the heart had broken, I would have sat at home,” he said candidly.

His present goal is to perform well in the T20 World Cup, after which he will focus on the 2027 50-over World Cup. “We will now play in a 10-team qualifying tournament, out of which the top four will make it to the World Cup. It shouldn’t be difficult for the USA if the team continues to play in the same form. We are at the top of the table presently,” he said, speaking proudly of his adopted country.