I Dream of Dubai: American Cricket's First On-Field Golden Age Is Here

I’m avoiding boardroom drama by watching the United States demolish the UAE for a spectacular and frankly alarming 49 all-out.

Like, right now. I’m watching it again, a week after it happened, because I still can’t totally believe it happened. I chuckle as I watch the slip cordon gradually inflate in size like a cartoon character inhaling helium. Monak added catchers with good reason as Saurabh Netravalkar and Rushil Ugarkar went wicket hunting with Outswingers On Parade plus Ugarkar getting one to nip back into the pads to get the dangerous Muhammad Waseem back in the dressing room, although the outcome was hardly in doubt by that point.

What we’re watching unfold as the United States sits atop associate cricket two-thirds of the way through the Cricket World Cup League 2 was a pipe dream a decade ago, when the USACA was on its way out. Now it’s here, and it’s real, and some folks are mad about it. Most of them appear to be trolls from the large and deeply passionate fanbase of Nepal and like to call the US “India B team.”

My response is simple: scoreboard. The United States is 4-0 against Nepal in this ODI cycle, with a pair of wins at Grand Prairie and a pair of wins on a neutral field in Dubai against former USA coach Stuart Law, who rather infamously clashed with several players who had star turns against Nepal. Ouch.

In fact, the US men can point at the scoreboard against most of their opponents: they have lost twice each to the Netherlands, Scotland, and split four games with Oman with each team winning once in the other country. They play the Dutch on a neutral field in Canada next summer and Scotland on a neutral field a year from now in - get this - Nepal. The outcome of that tri-series will be as hilarious as it will be entertaining.

The real treat of it all isn’t necessarily the success that has come, though. It’s that the USA men are getting better.

Established players are getting better results now than they were a year and a half ago. Milind and Saiteja Mukkamalla are now the second and third leading run scorers in CWC League 2; Mukkamalla’s methodical approach makes me yearn for the revival of the Intercontinental Cup purely to see what he could do in a multi-day format. Netravalkar looks better at 34 than he did at 32. More young players are coming online to shoulder some of the workload that guys like him and Monank Patel (and Jones and Steven Taylor once upon a time) have had to carry for a good while now. Shubham Ranjane wasn’t as overwhelming as he was for Texas in the summer but was effective in a couple of big spots with the bat and the ball, the latter of which feels like a bonus but was really the centerpiece of his work on the trip. Ugarkar brings balance to the Force as a true #2 pacer who takes a lot of pressure off Jessy Singh, who is probably a good #3 for a team like the USA but has been asked to be the #2 as a lot of options have faltered or gotten banged up.

This is the most balanced, most talented team the United States has ever had, and it’s the best chance we have to date of seeing them do the hardest thing an associate member can do: qualify for the Cricket World Cup.

The Cricket World Cup is notoriously hard to get into, but with the field expanding from 10 to 14 for 2027, spots are open for multiple associates to wade into the fray. As it stands, the United States would have to best Scotland, the Netherlands, and Oman for that spot… and I just told you how that has gone for the US so far, but 2026 brings a fresh look at the Dutch and the Scottish - the Netherlands won’t have played an ODI in over 12 months, and Scotland isn’t getting any younger, while the USA is one bilateral series away from playing significantly more cricket than both in 2026.

Right. Bilaterals. That’ll happen.

Saiteja Mukkamalla and Milind Kumar are two of the most in-form batsmen in ODI cricket today, and they both went off to not only stop a top-order collapse in the final ODI against the UAE but also set an impressive landmark with the USA’s largest stand for any wicket in an ODI. Their 264* is the second-largest fourth-wicket stand ever in the format for anyone, trailing only the 1998 stand of 275* set by Mohammad Azharuddin and Ajay Jadeja against Zimbabwe in Cuttack. Those two basically did the same thing Mukkamalla and Milind did, halting a top-order collapse where Sourav Ganguly left for 13 off 30, Sachin Tendulkar lasted just two balls, and VVS Laxman went for a three-ball duck, then two middle order bats said no mas.

The duo has become a match-winning pair for the USA men, and both have been breakout stars in their own way. Milind is enjoying unprecedented success in the USA setup and has raced out to a massive 67.73 average and a strike rate just north of 100. Mukkamalla just hit his third ODI ton before his 22nd birthday, which is simply incredible to think about. The United States has produced a prodigy; he is built for the longer formats with the way he exerts control over the game on long timescales at the crease, and that makes him really satisfying to watch over several hours of work. His debut season in MLC wasn’t quite as dazzling as some of his T20I batting innings, and nothing threatened his century against Oman as a high-water Mark, but Mukkamalla isn’t far away. It wouldn’t hurt to lift with Krishnamurthi over the next couple of months, though.

While I was quite profoundly disappointed in the ICC for punting on a possible suspension of USA Cricket in July, now that suspension has happened, I applaud the board for taking a firm stance with the renegades seeking to hold onto power. I would love to be able to frame it in a more optimistic way, but that’s simply what this is at this point on the basis of the actions of the Venu Pisike-led faction that has steered USAC into a legal spat with ACE and now bankruptcy, all things that were unfortunately entirely foreseeable when they were given an extra three months at the AGM in July. They may have happened anyway, but the ICC’s pinkie-promise with Pisike was doomed to fall apart from the outset.

They appear to have learned that lesson. Fool me once and whatnot. USA Cricket was a topic of discussion at this week’s ICC quarterly meetings which wrapped late last week, and the ICC board is watching the bankruptcy proceedings like a hawk to ensure the exit is much more orderly than the Michael Scott-esque entrance.

The path to this moment began much longer than 15 months ago when USA Cricket was put “on notice” by the ICC, but it could end anytime Pisike wants it to. We are well past the point where he or any of the current board retains a position of power over the sport: the honorable thing to do would be to resign, go back to Georgia to focus on making the local scene the best it can be, and see if success there earns a second bite at the apple. Given where we are now and the myriad lawsuits that have spawned from it, though, that seems unlikely. Gonna be a long winter.

It’s something of a running gag that the most important trophy in international cricket discourse is whichever one India won last, but their stunning upset of Australia and subsequent victory over South Africa in the Women’s Cricket World Cup has leaned into that trope and created the potential for a galvanizing moment for women’s cricket. For years the purview of Australia and England with a heavy dose of New Zealand, India’s breakthrough moment drew huge domestic audiences and has created a massive celebration of the women’s game in its largest market. That is a major moment for the game, the kind of landmark that helps the game accelerate.

Joking aside, India is unquestionably the foremost taste maker within the sport; the things it is passionate about in cricket tend to start showing up in other places, sometimes the direct result of Indian money filtering into other markets. A significant investment in women’s cricket would be transformational for what is traditionally a male-dominated sport in most of the world. India could end up driving that boat, if only by happy accident. The Women’s Premier League is already making top players around the world significantly wealthier, and IPL owners have invested significant money in The Hundred, including its women’s tournament, so the climate may already be taking shape.

I have maintained that women’s cricket is a major unexplored avenue for the sport in the USA. It’s the only way cricket becomes a varsity sport on college campuses, which is how the US became a soccer and basketball powerhouse. It ties together a demographic totally unrepresented in the American sports landscape with the exploding women’s sports scene. Anika Kolan is already at basically every event that attempts to get the brain trust and cash powerhouses of the sport in the same room, and she’s hardly alone in promoting the women’s game to people with passion for the game and means to manifest that passion on the field. There may be a little extra sponsorship cash lying around to back the national teams after India’s win, and that could let the US do something it does better than anyone: build elite women’s sports teams.

Thank you for reading Stumps & Stripes! If you enjoy my work, please subscribe and share with others. I did something really cool over the weekend that could proliferate into quite a few stories about the people trying to make cricket work on the margins in places where it has historically struggled. I think you’re gonna like it. Stay tuned.