Nadella expresses his passion for cricket, again, at Microsoft Ignite 2023 keynote.
Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft, expressed his passion for cricket during the company’s big keynote — Microsoft Ignite 2023. Nadella revealed that he was “up all night” watching the Cricket World Cup semi-final match between India and New Zealand, which finished just five minutes ahead of the Ignite 2023 keynote, and stated, “Little did we know when we scheduled Ignite that we will schedule it on the day when there is World Cup semi-final going on, in cricket.”
Satya Nadella also highlighted the fact that this is a shorter version of the game compared to the test format (which he loves to watch), which takes five days. On several occasions, Nadella has stated that cricket has helped him understand teamwork and leadership.
The match finished just at the right time for the presentation, with India winning against New Zealand and entering the final leg of the tournament.
This is not the first time the India-origin Nadella has expressed his love for the game. In fact, Nadella, in an interview, highlighted the fact that he played cricket as a part of his school team. Recently, he joined hands with the Delhi Capitals IPL team and co-owns the Seattle Orcas franchise in the Major League Cricket (MLC) T20 tournament, which promotes and supports cricket in the US. Additionally, he plans on building a cricket stadium in Seattle. In fact, the new Microsoft campus in Redmond, Washington, now has an actual oval-shaped cricket ground.
It’s not just Satya Nadella; several tech behemoths currently in top positions have expressed their love for cricket. One such personality is Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Alphabet, Google, who also revealed that he once dreamt of becoming a cricketer.
