By Debasis Sen and Ishan Shahane in New York
The ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 got off to a flying start on Sunday with hosts West Indies taking on Papua New Guinea at the Providence stadium in Guyana. But a few thousand kilometres away from New York, there is hardly any interest being generated among the local Americans.
For the Yanks, baseball, NBA – their high profile basketball — and MLS (Major League Soccer) are still the most popular sport. As our flight landed at the John F Kennedy airport on Sunday morning, there was hardly any commercial branding for the global cricket event being staged in this part of the world.
This is the first time a cricket World Cup is being held in the US, yet the response seems lukewarm when compared to hosts in cricket crazy India and other Asian nations. Indeed, the International Cricket Council (ICC) does face a huge challenge in making cricket reach all the US household. Having said that, the ICC has left no stone unturned to make the event a grand success.
From an organisational point, the ICC has done well to appoint eight-time Olympic gold sprint champion medallist Usain Bolt as ambassador for the ICC T20 World Cup. An event was also staged during the Formula One race in Miami with former India cricketer Yuvraj Singh, who was also an ambassador for the event, attending it.
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According to Farooq, settled in Big Apple, who is a Pakistani supporter, cricket has a huge potential to become a popular sport in the US. Given the large number of Asians living in the US, they do love cricket as well and would love to lap up more. Indeed, the local Indian fans are also eager to watch the likes of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and Hardik Pandya.
The final stages of work are still in progress at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium. It is a make-shift stadium located in the middle of Eisenhower Park and all set to stage eight ICC T20 World Cup matches. There is commercial branding all around the stadium which was opened to the local school kids for viewing. Security in and around the stadium has also been tightened massively after a threat from IS – a banned terrorist organisation. There have also been reports of an attack by a “lone wolf” last week which has made the New York Police go the extra mile in ensuring security is beefed up.
Meanwhile, the Indian team was given a break on Sunday. Rohit and his boys had a convincing 62-run win against Bangladesh in their only warm-up game on Saturday. The Indian cricketers will have a full-fledged training session at the Cantiague Park on Monday with star batter Virat Kohli expected to train with the team. Kohli had skipped the warm-up game against Bangladesh after landing in New York late. He would have been jet-lagged and in no shape to play the first match.
The Indian team will begin their main World Cup campaign against Ireland at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium on Wednesday, June 5.
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