The 1994 FIFA World Cup was a watershed moment for football in the United States of America (USA). The sport was not popular in the country at this time, and questions were asked on why a mega event was assigned to a host who could not tell football from soccer.
But by the end of the month-long festivities, the verdict was clear. An overall spectator attendance of 3,587,538, at an average of 68,991 per game, set a new record. The success of the tournament led to the launch of Major League Soccer (MLS), which now counts Lionel Messi among its players. The tournament also inspired an entire generation of Americans to take up football as a career.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) will believe that the 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup will cause a similarly positive ripple effect. Cricket in the USA - still a work in progress - could use the help.
At a minimum, a new audience gets the chance to experience world-class action. For the thousands who live in the USA with roots in India, Pakistan and other cricket-playing nations, this can create memories for a lifetime. The financials are lucrative as well, as expats are willing to spend big bucks on tickets.
The new venues will test the players’ ability to adapt. Construction at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York, for instance, was completed only recently. A drop-in pitch arrived a few days ago, and a sole warm-up match is the only indicator on how surface could behave.
Teams which assess conditions quickly have the best chance to succeed.
The business half - Super 8s, semifinals and the final - will be held entirely in the West Indies. A more familiar setting for cricket fans, the Caribbean islands last held a World Cup in 2010.
India should have no trouble getting past Group ‘A’ and into Barbados - the venue for its first Super 8 outing. Even if the Pakistan clash does not go its way, Ireland, Canada and USA is unlikely to offer much resistance.
Co-host West Indies, a two-time T20 World Cup champion, could go all the way. Home conditions and an eleven tailor-made for T20 will frighten opponents.
Reigning 50-over world champion Australia reserve its best for the big occasions. And if Travis Head throws the kitchen sink in the Powerplay like he did in the IPL, it is game over.
Defending champion England depend on express pacers Jofra Archer and Mark Wood to pummel batters into submission. Captain Jos Buttler, among the players who missed the latter stages of the IPL to play a four-match T20I series against Pakistan, is a menace with the bat.
While the favourites put the blinders on in pursuit of victory, the expanded tournament field gives unheralded teams and cricketers the rare chance to step onto the big stage. We get to hear the story of Uganda’s Frank Nsubuga, who at 43 is the oldest player in the tournament. This is the crowning moment for Nsubuga, who has spent his 27-year cricket career in obscurity.
The media will take the microphone to Canada’s leg-spinner Junaid ‘The X-Man’ Siddiqui, who grew up playing street cricket in Karachi before moving to Toronto at the age of 13.
The Men’s T20 World Cup has something in it for all.
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