The popularity of Twenty20 and success of IPL (Indian Premier League) has attracted markets in USA.

Indian businessmen chase markets in USA for Twenty20 league

The popularity of Twenty20 and success of IPL (Indian Premier League) has attracted markets in USA. Few Indian businessmen have approached United States of America Cricket Association with an aim to start a Twenty20 league.

"We have received offers from a few Indian businessmen who have shown interest in investing money for an IPL-like league," said USACA president Gladstone Dainty.

"We intend to start Twenty20 league here by next year and had advertised for the sponsorship rights," the president added.

The USACA is one of the 35 Associate Members of the ICC.

"The Indian cricket board, Cricket Australia (CA) and the International Cricket Council have been helping us to organise matches in this region," Dainty said.

US had a national development plan in place a few years earlier but it has to be suspended temporarily due to various reasons including the ICC suspending the US as an Associate Member.

"We had initially received applications from some 17 businessmen from India. This list has been short-listed and we are now negotiating with 4-5 people from India," USACA first vice-president Nabeel Ahmed said.

The identity of the Indian businessmen has not been revealed.

Another sports company, NACL (North American Cricket League) with expected funding from India, is believed to have received USACA's permission to organise a professional league in the US.

The league will be played at the Broward County Stadium in Florida, where the series between New Zealand and Sri Lanka was held earlier this year.

"The intention of NACL is to organise, host, promote and develop Twenty20 format cricket amd develop cricketing infrastructure in the United States", a NACL spokesperson, who wished to remain anonymous, said.

"There are also several popular Hindi filmstars and Hollywood stars who have been lined up to act as brand ambassadors of the different teams. America has a large population Indian and Pakistani expatriates population and they are surely going to love it'', he added.

The international players would add star power to the Twenty20 competition. "I feel T20 is the perfect format and it suits the American population and we will develop this format in USA.u00a0 Our team at NACL is very confident and we have a wide range of expertise to pull this off, both from the fields of cricket and entertainment. The time has come to bring T20 into the USA," he said. "We will be bringing an IPL kind of a format."

The writer is a freelancer