Cricket kicks off in Texas on Saturday with the opening match of the T20 World Cup, as the primary main match to be held in the USA will get underway. A month-long celebration of the sport's quickest and most explosive format – which is being shared between venues in Texas, Florida, New York and the Caribbean – kicks off on Saturday with a match between the US and Canada at Grand Prairie Stadium on the outskirts of Dallas.
It’s the first main Worldwide Cricket Council (ICC) occasion to be held in the USA.
Whereas nearly all of the match will likely be performed within the Caribbean, 16 group stage matches within the 20-team match will likely be performed on US soil, together with the principle group stage match – between India and Pakistan – to be performed on Lengthy Island, New York.
The rest of the match will likely be held within the West Indies, together with the Tremendous Eight stage, the semi-finals and the ultimate, which will likely be performed on the Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados.
Though cricket is extensively performed at a leisure stage in the USA, and has a powerful presence in all three states chosen for the Video games, organisers are lifelike concerning the prospects of “changing” mainstream American sports activities followers.
As an alternative, they anticipate the massive immigrant neighborhood from cricket-loving backgrounds, together with 1000’s of Indian followers particularly, to fill the stadiums.
“I feel, at the start, we need to have a good time the people who find themselves already die-hard cricket followers. They should see the very best gamers on the earth play on their dwelling grounds and they need to have that chance,” T20 World Cup USA Inc chief govt Brett Jones advised AFP.
“Secondly, I feel it's meant to extend curiosity within the sport,” he added.
The ICC additionally sees the match as a launch pad for the game's return on the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics, when the T20 format will likely be used.
A T20 match referred to as Main League Cricket was launched final yr and can also be anticipated to profit from rising curiosity within the big-hitting, thrilling quick format.
However the ICC's focus isn’t just on the US market – the growth of the match has opened up alternatives for brand spanking new cricketing nations to compete on the large stage.
Lately, the sport has been in a position to develop outdoors its conventional strongholds, with Eire and Afghanistan ranked within the prime 12-man squad with full Take a look at standing.
However the ICC sees the T20 format as a perfect medium for the sport's progress and this yr's version will see three groups – the USA, Canada and Uganda – taking part within the T20 World Cup for the primary time.
Nepal, Papua New Guinea and Oman are different international locations who’re comparatively new to the large stage and will likely be trying to make their mark and seize consideration with an sudden win.
The groups have been divided into 4 teams of 5, with solely the highest two advancing, so no smaller nation is anticipated to progress past the group stage, and there’s a hazard that the pool stage could also be largely a 'elimination' course of.
India Favorites
India, winners of the inaugural version in 2007, are favourites this time as their squad contains gamers from the annual Indian Premier League.
Australia, who received the ODI World Cup and World Take a look at Championship final yr, have determined to depart out skilled batsman Steve Smith however big-hitting David Warner and quick bowlers Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins present a number of expertise to the staff.
Different potential contenders embrace defending champions England, who will likely be with out the star of their 2022 triumph, Ben Stokes, who’s regaining his health after a knee operation. England started their preparations for the match by thrashing Pakistan by seven wickets in London on Thursday.
Co-hosts West Indies received the match in 2012 and 2016 and hope to profit from their familiarity with the area's surfaces.
South Africa, New Zealand and Pakistan will all be trying to make an impression in a match that all the time produces sudden outcomes.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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