An expansive grass field spread out from him. Aaryan walked onto the pitch. He palmed his bat, and nervous energy fluttered through him. It was an important game—the one that could decide if he made the US team for international cricket.
This past August, junior Aaryan Salunke got selected for one of the Dallas teams in the USA Under 19 National cricket tournament, despite having suffered a knee injury that left him out of the game for 2 years. The nationals are the level before representing the USA in the Under 19 World Cup. Having served as vice-captain for a junior minor league national tournament just at the age of 13 and coming back with a runners-up trophy, Salunke’s career in cricket is just beginning.
“My wife [first] noticed his passion [for cricket] while they were on vacation in India,” Pradyot Salunke, Aryan’s father and coach said. “He was about two years old at the time, and she observed him mimicking the cricket shots of the players on TV with his toy cricket bat. When I joined them later, I also noticed his genuine interest in the game as he played with anything he could find as a bat and enjoyed throwing and bowling a tennis ball to others. It was clear that he was fascinated by cricket.”
Salunke’s interest then grew into a passion for the sport. He continued to grow his skills and compete in tournaments.
“There were minor league cricket tournaments for youth under 13, and my first tournament outside of Texas was in Atlanta, where I was the vice-captain,” Salunke said. “We went to the finals but lost, so we were runners-up. That was my first national tournament. Then in July 2021, I played in California, and after that tournament, I had to stop playing due to my injury.”
Salunke developed a knee injury—a torn meniscus—in the spring of 2020, stopping him from playing the sport.
“After months of physical therapy, I got back into playing,” Salunke said. “But I was still injured, so I played from the spring of 2021 to July, and after a tournament in California, my knee pain got so bad that I developed Osgood-Schlatter disease, with two bumps under my knees. It was hard to walk after playing.”
After consulting the doctor, Salunke had two options: get surgery, which could risk his ability to walk, or completely stop playing until his injury healed. Salunke made the “difficult decision” to take a 2.5 year break from cricket to recover. During the break, Salunke wanted to keep in touch with cricket.
“When [my dad] was coaching very little kids, sometimes I would join him and help him coach, even though I couldn’t play,” Salunke said. “I still wanted to be in touch, as a lot of my friends play cricket. It would be a chance for me to catch up with them and also help the next generation of players.”
After years of physical therapy, Salunke was finally able to return to playing cricket. Although having the basic fundamentals, Salunke had to put in “a lot of time and effort” to get back to the standard at which he played before his injury.
“It didn’t feel like he didn’t play for two years,” teammate Dhawal Lavekar said. “It felt like he was practicing the whole time. That was his biggest challenge. Everyone else thought that he may not come back, or maybe not do as well, but he came back with the same amount of energy and skill [as] everyone else. ”
Salunke got the opportunity to try out for the cricket team representing the US in the under 19 category this August.
“It’s the top 220 kids or so in the whole country,” Salunke said. “[We] would get selected for this tournament. Then, based on how [we] perform, they would select 28 to represent the US.”
As a source of motivation through his cricket journey, Salunke looks up to his dad—alongside famous cricket captain, Rohit Sharma, as well.
“Not only has [my dad] been the person who taught me cricket, but he’s the one who kept me in touch,” Salunke said. “Like, even whenever I was injured, I still had the passion for the game because of him. He would always uh he would always push me to be the best I could. Like even if I wasn’t performing or I wasn’t doing as good for a small stretch, he knew that I had what it takes. He would always be there for me mentally [and] push me in practice to do my best. He’s led me to like where I am today.”
Salunke’s dad informed his son that he made it onto the national team.
“I was really happy [to make the nationals], especially after coming back from a very long injury and only being back in the game for eight, nine months—not as much time as a lot of other people had to prepare for this,” Salunke said. “I knew that my coaches, my dad, they’re the people who’ve helped me get back into a form and it’s really like all thanks to them that I even got selected.”
Despite the first round of the selection process to make it to the final 28 of the US team going well, Salunke was sick and missed the second match, which took place over October. In the future, Aaryan plans to continue pursuing the national team.
“There is one more opportunity [in high school] to get selected for the World Cup team next year, in senior year,” Salunke said. “So I plan to practice and try and [get] select[ed] for that. After high school, depending on college and university and all that, I plan to play in minor league cricket, which is like a nationwide tournament for adults. From the minor league, I hope to move on to the major league, which is like the IPL (Indian Premier League) of America.”
Growing up as a cricket player in the US, Salunke experienced the rapid growth of the cricket world in the US firsthand. In fact, the US hosted the T20 World Cup over the past summer, with players from countries like India, England, and the West Indies coming to play.
“I wanted to be directly involved in my son’s development and help other kids discover and learn cricket,” Pradyot Salunke said. “Initially, we faced major challenges due to a lack of awareness and understanding of the sport, as well as facilities. However, things have changed in the last 3 to 4 years, with the USA now having proper cricket stadiums, excellent indoor and outdoor facilities, and cricket grounds. The number of young cricket players has grown significantly, and the USA Cricket board has developed a proper pathway for juniors and youth from under 11 years old to the mens’ teams.”
Throughout his experiences, Salunke plans to continue to grow as a player.
“I would say he’s patient in everything he does,” Dhawal said. “He really takes his time to get settled. Do his thing. I feel like the most rewarding [aspect of being Aaryan’s teammate] is watching him bat and score runs. Watching him settle the team—because he’s usually the highest scorer on our team—and watching him score runs is probably the most fun.”
Salunke’s favorite part of cricket is manipulating the field as a batsman. By the time he steps onto the pitch, his thoughts are completely focused on his play.
“There’s a lot of emotions as you only get one chance in cricket, and once you get out, there’s no batting again,” Salunke said. “So as you’re getting as you’re putting on all your equipment, you do get a little nervous as you feel like the pressure to perform. But once you walk onto the pitch, the nerves just go away. After getting warmed up, you just feel like ‘I’ve practiced for this so much. I just need to do what comes naturally.’”
