The hero of the Indian Cricket team, Virat Kohli has reportedly reached New York for the ICC T20 World Cup tournament. However, before he puts on the new blue and orange mixed jersey number 18, and steps on American soil, he ponders the journey of cricket to the USA which at a time deemed almost impossible. It just shows that sports is growing, like a 'domino effect' of sorts. (More Cricket News)
The United States of America and the West Indies are hosting the 2024 T20 World Cup scheduled to begin on June 2, Sunday. India's first and only warm-up match is set against Bangladesh and will be played on, Saturday.
Meanwhile, Virat Kohli in a video shared by US Consulate Mumbai on X said, “Honestly I never thought we would be playing cricket in any form in the states (USA), but now it’s a reality.
“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,” he said, before his departure from India to link up with his national team-mates in New York.
The Indian Premier League 2024 Orange Cap holder believes that this marque event is a ‘great start’ especially when the aim is to promote and expand cricket worldwide. Cricket in a country where people grew up watching and playing their own games like MLB (baseball), NFL (Soccer), and NBA (basketball) might set off a chain reaction much like one domino knocking over the next.
“It’s a great start. It’s the ideal way to begin and it’s going to have a huge impact. In starting off, a kind of a domino effect and I hope it carries on for a long period of time,” he said.
Additionally, the batting maestro explained that cricket and America are not entirely foreign to each other. The people from South Asian regions residing in the state are enough to do the task, they would make their people understand what cricket is.
“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,” he said.
“It’s got great potential, with the MLC (Major League Cricket) as well. There is already franchise cricket happening there. It’s moving in the right direction,” said Kohli, referring to the T20 league which recently got List A status from the ICC ahead of its second season.
USA is co-hosting a Cricket World Cup for the first time with the upcoming Twenty20 World Cup. The matches will be played in three cities in the US - Dallas, New York, and Florida.
India's first match in the T20 World Cup is against Ireland on June 5 at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium, New York. Fans are hoping to see their star batter fit for the team's tournament opener in New York.
