Avery benign god seems to have smiled sweetly at an expectant world, or an impressive array of its cricket entrepreneurs, when Major League Cricket of Twenty20 matches got going in the US of A last week. It’s time for hallelujahs from the Indian diaspora, with Brits across the pond, so dramatically alarmed weeks ago when Test cricket’s superstars came to be known to be close to switching loyalties by taking annual jobs Indian Premier League franchises were offering.

Not that the widely awaited new tournament will in any way lessen the all-round pressure on the conventional game but there were easy, clear reasons why Americans ~ essentially non-resident Indians ~ were required to be taking a pop at organising cricket, preferably in the format calculated to appeal most to southern Asians. If they roll up on a regular basis, high-end in-stadium advertising and, of course, a lot else will follow. The stakes are quite high because America is jointly to host next year’s T20 World Cup with the West Indies, the elaborate exercise eventually seguing into the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028. Or, that is the hope American cricket nurtures. Truth to tell, there should not have been an attack of the collywobbles, if there was one in the first place, because America rolls the red carpet out no matter who steps on it ~ Leo Messi or Virat Kohli ~ as long as the arrival signals a fillip to commercial exploitation. Where American cricket’s high-ups are unlikely to find the going easy is when some of them wish to set an example in achieving excellence. They have been quoted as saying that, unlike the other T20 ventures that have mushroomed, they don’t wish merely to sell televised cricket in India, making sure that the American game develops to the point where it is ranks among the best in the world.

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A noble ambition all right, but one that could be destined to remain unfulfilled unless institutional programmes and priorities are put in place. Tournaments, however rich or high-decibel, do not really seed the game quite as naturally and effectively as boys in schools and locality clubs do, if that kind of loyal adherence is a fact of life. Whether American kids take to a game which has had to be invested heavily in by Indians with Pakistani dropouts and cast-offs making up its pool of exponents, with a few acknowledged but once-upon-a-time titans, will be a serious concern going ahead. And while it is quite possible that T20 will rise as global competitions multiply, Tests will separate the chaff from the grain. Will part-time frolic suffice for the quality control test to be got through? We’ve been told 2024 will be a full season for MLC but cricket’s identity confusion ~ Tests, One-Day Internationals or T20s ~ cannot be lost on Americans.