T20 World Cup in USA: Will the 20-team global event be 'out of this world'?

“OUT OF THIS WORLD”, scream strategically-positioned banners in and around the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium, which will make its bow as an international cricket venue on Monday (June 3) when South Africa begin their quest for an elusive World Cup title against 2014 champions Sri Lanka in the T20 World Cup 2024. Out Of This World is the official anthem of the tournament; only time will tell, though, if the competition is truly out of this world.

Having successfully won a tight race against time to be ready for the 20-over format’s flagship event, the venue – the largest of three international cricket grounds in the United States – will hold eight group ties between June 3 and 12, three of them involving India, including the “final” before every cricket World Cup final, against Pakistan on June 9. Tickets for that game at the stadium, which can hold 34,000 spectators, were sold out in a jiffy, as one would expect.

The real test of the sport’s drawing power will come in matches where India won’t be in action, especially in the Canada vs Ireland and Netherlands vs South Africa fixtures, although it is worth remembering that even in established cricketing grounds, several such ties attract minimal to non-existent audiences.

Cricket is a long way from being a popular sport in the US

It will be fanciful, wonderful even, to believe that the T20 World Cup has taken the US by storm. It will also be a less-than-honest appraisal at this early stage. After all, despite the fact that the first-ever international cricket match, between the US and Canada, was staged in New York in 1844, cricket isn’t the most popular, or even the second or third-most popular, sport in this country. It’s a long way away from becoming a much-in-demand spectator sport, though the hope is that with time, as the national team plays and wins more and more matches, and as more and more indigenous Americans take to cricket, it will fire the imagination of the locals, much like “soccer” did after the 1994 FIFA World Cup was held on these shores.

When one lands at the sprawling JFK Airport in New York, there are few indications that a major global sporting extravaganza is hours from getting underway. Over in Dallas, the Americans were getting ready to lock horns with neighbours Canada in the opening fixture of the World Cup but as far as New York was concerned, that might as well have been on a different planet.

Once one makes his way through the snaking queue to the Immigration Officer, there is a slight change in perception. He casually eyes your visa and says, “Here for the World Cup, is it?” He isn’t an expat from a cricket-playing nation, but before you can ask him how he knows, he says, “I live not far from Eisenhower Park. I often walk there.”

The massive Eisenhower Park

The Nassau County International Cricket Stadium is nestled inside the massive Eisenhower Park, closed to taxis and other such vehicles for the duration of the World Cup. If you aren’t driving your own vehicle, you must walk a good kilometre (or more than half a mile, as they say here) to reach the stadium, a very pleasant walk in the shade as giant-sized squirrels scurry along the grass and a gentle breeze wafts across. There is a remarkable lack of activity once you clear the friendly security person who surprises you with “Mashallah”, and the accreditation card allows you almost unrestricted access to an untenanted ground because South Africa and Sri Lanka are scheduled to practise elsewhere, at the Cantiague Park some 10 miles away.

‘A cricket match lasts a week or so?’

Walk around Roosevelt, a leafy suburb some four miles from the ground, and you find residents curious that someone would travel half the world to watch a few games of cricket, even if politeness stops them from saying so outright.

“I heard a cricket match lasts a week or so and you sometimes don’t get a result even after that much time!” says Nicholas, stunned that players, spectators, and everyone else would invest so much time.

When you gently nudge him in the direction of T20 cricket and tell him that it lasts a little over three- and-a-half hours, he tones his incredulity down just a notch. “That’s still twice as long as a soccer match, friend.”

No arguments there, Nicholas.

US’ commanding win over Canada

That’s not to say that there is zero interest in the World Cup. The US’ commanding win over Canada, fashioned by Queens-born Aaron James, formerly of Barbados, has attracted the attention of a few hundreds, which is how revolutions actually start, don’t they?

Dwight, as all-American as they come, notices the accreditation card dangling around your neck and quips, “Hey, we will get you man, mark my words!”

The beaming smile says, “I’m just kidding,” a belief reinforced by his immediate candour. “Not this time, man, I know you guys have Kohli and Bumrah. But at some stage in the future, who knows?”

Who knows, indeed? Who knew, that fateful June 25th morning in 1983, that Kapil Dev’s heroes would bring the mighty West Indies to their knees? Who knew, even a half-dozen years back, that we would be reporting on a cricket World Cup from the United States? Who knew that Navneet Singh Dhaliwal, born in Chandigarh 35 summers ago and now representing Canada, would become the first half-centurion of the 2024 T20 World Cup?

Some challenges for the teams

A cricket World Cup in the US comes with attendant challenges for everyone concerned, teams included. Security cordons are strict and unyielding, as is the traffic. Sri Lanka, here only for Monday’s game against South Africa, are staying at a hotel in Brooklyn, at least an hour-and-a-half’s drive away on a good traffic day. Unlike in India and some other parts of the world, traffic doesn’t come to a standstill when the team leaves its hotel.

“It’s great to be here in America, the facilities are brilliant,” said Sri Lankan captain Wanindu Hasaranga, for whom a 10.30 am start wasn’t a big challenge. “Apart from the distance,” he added quickly. “We have to travel an hour and a half, so we have to leave the hotel at 7.30 am. That is the only concern.”

Welcome to the United States, Wanindu. Out Of This World, did you say?