Sundar Pichai rooting for Men in Blue; wants India-England World Cup finale
The Google CEO added that Australia and New Zealand were also very good teams.
Describing himself as a passionate cricket fan, the 46-year-old head of California-based internet giant said that when he came to the US, he found baseball a bit challenging.
"It (ICC Cricket World Cup final match) should be (between) England and India. But, you know, Australia and New Zealand, these are all very, very good teams," Pichai told a Washington audience that included US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and top corporate executives from India and the US during the India Ideas Summit of USIBC wherein he received the Global Leadership Award on Wednesday.
He was replying to USIBC president Nisha Desai Biswal who asked "who do you think is going to play the final match".
Pichai shared some of his cricket and baseball experiences in the United States.
"When I first came here, I tried to kind of adapt to baseball. I have to say it was a bit challenging. In my first game, I was proud because I hit the ball on the back. It's a really good shot in cricket. I was like, well look, what I did. But people didn't appreciate it.
"In cricket when you run, you always take your bat with you. So I also ran between base with my bat as well. So eventually, I realised baseball was a bit difficult. I can adjust on many things, but I'm going to stick to cricket," he said.
"There is a cricket World Cup going on. It's a wonderful tournament... rooting for India to do well. But there's a lot at stake here," Pichai said.
Sundar Pichai, born Pichai Sundararajan in 1972, grew up in Madras, now Chennai, in a two-room house. He went on to complete his graduation from IIT-Kharagpur before heading to foreign shores to pursue a Master's in Science from Stanford, and following that up with an MBA from the Wharton Business School
A household name across the globe, Pichai grew in ranks at Google - which he joined in 2004 - to become the CEO of the tech company in 2015. That wasn't the end of the ladder for this top boss, and in December 2019, Google’s founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin wrote a letter in which they announced that they were stepping down and appointed Pichai as the CEO of Alphabet in addition to his existing role of Google CEO.
As the poster boy for the tech world turns a year older, here's looking at some interesting facts about him.
The Economic Times Business News App for the Latest News in Business, Sensex, Stock Market Updates & More.
