The 2024 T20 World Cup has officially arrived in the United States, and the excitement of playing the sport in a country where it’s yet to gain mass popularity like India, is a challenge in itself.
As T20 cricket’s biggest spectacle unfolds in the US, it holds the key to create massive awareness about the sport in the country where basketball and baseball are enjoyed by a wider audience.
Cricket’s biggest stars like Virat Kohli will also play a massive role in promoting the game in the US as cricket will also be part of the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028. With that in mind, the International Cricket Council (ICC) has also roped in former stars like Yuvraj Singh and Shahid Afridi as brand ambassadors with an eye on attracting a wider audience.
India’s batting maestro Kohli opened up about playing in the USA and said he never thought that he would be playing in the States and hailed the country for accepting the change and being one of the first ones to do it.
“Honestly, I never thought we would be playing cricket in any form in the States. But now it’s a reality. And that tells you about the growing impact of the sport in the world and the United States is more than willing to accept the change and be probably the first ones on a global scale to accept it, in a way, with the World Cup,” Kohli said in a video message.
The former India captain, who will be playing in the T20 World Cup, said that having a T20 WC in the USA will be the start of a domino effect.
“I think it’s a great start. It’s the ideal way to begin and it’s going to have a huge impact, and in starting off a kind of a domino effect. I hope it carries on for a long period of time,” the 35-year-old added.
Talking further about the emergence of cricket in the USA, Kohli said that with the franchise league tournament MLC already happening there, cricket has a big potential to grow in the country.
“We have enough people from our regions to keep the game up and alive in the States and make the others more aware about what it feels like to play and watch cricket. And I think it’s got great potential, with the MLC as well. There is already franchise cricket happening there. So I think, it’s moving in the right direction,” he stated.
Captains light up iconic Rockefeller Centre Building
The final 24 hours ahead of the opening match in Texas saw cricket being beamed to new audiences across America like never before as the country prepares to co-host an ICC World Cup event for the first time.
Headlining the excitement, was a lighting projection show that featured all 20 captains of the largest ICC men’s T20 World Cup ever on to the Rockefeller Centre Building in New York City. Each of the captains from the four groups were featured above the busy streets of Manhattan on the facade of 30 Rockefeller.
Ahead of the NBA Finals Series, Bangladesh and India captains Rohit Sharma and Najmul Shanto were able to pick-up the famous Larry O’Brien Trophy as part of a collaboration with the league. Both captains got their first look at the 34,000 seat Nassau County International Stadium ahead of today’s warm-up fixture at the same venue.
ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 Ambassador Yuvraj Singh ensured Americans woke up to cricket, appearing on Good Morning America to invite new fans to come and watch the world’s best cricketers playing in the USA.