ICC's Big American Dream: Too many loose ends, over-dependence on Indian market

Underprepared dropin tracks poor ground conditions over dependence on Indian TV audience not factoring in weather and steep ticket prices were only some of the problems that didnt make America the most viable commercial destination for a global event like T20 World Cup 2024 in first attemptHowever the only takeaway is United States national teams stupendous show to beat Pakistan and give India a run for their money before entering the T20 World Cup 2024 Super Eights on its debut at the world stageThere are only few things that money cant buy and the performances by Saurabh Netravalkar and Monank Patel were indeed priceless something that would give the pinstriped suits of ICC sitting in Dubai a chance to heave a sigh of relief despite lot of things that didnt go right during the course of twoandahalf weeksFor any team sport to do well and get popularity in a particular geographical region it is imperative that there is some sense of nationalism associated with it and the H1B visa holders and Green Card acquiring Indians have given them that opportunityAlso ReadUSArsquos Super 8 entry propels direct T20 World Cup 2026 qualificationCricket in America has been ICCs pet project for a long time and having T20 included in the 2028 Olympics programme for the Los Angeles edition is a big leap in that directionHowever the global body would be the first to admit that the teething problems associated with the logistics and organisational part did paint a sorry pictureLet us take the example of the Nassau County Cricket ground in the Long Island which is more than an hours drive from the CBD Central Business District of the New York CityIt was a makeshift facility and by the time this article reaches the readers the 37000 seater portable stands would have been dismantled and no one knows what kind of cricket matches would be played at that ground henceforth The dropin pitch will be plucked out for sureThe mouthwatering proposition of India vs USA in New York state not City however needed a bit more than just hype and not testing the tracks was a juvenile mistakeThe pitch was pilloried for its uneven bounce during Indias opening match against Ireland when balls were flying from length after hitting the cracksThe groundsmen then rolled the track to cover the cracks and so much that the pitch became slow and teams found it difficult to chase down any target which was in the range of 115120The low scores made the matches enticing but also took away the fun element from the whole process of coming to watch a T20 match where they would want to see more sixes being hitA total of 56 maximums were hit in 8 games and at an average of seven per game which isnt the best advertisement for promotion of the game in an unchartered territory where the viewership is dependant on Indian diaspora In one IPL match alone this season 42 sixes were hit which is the other end of the spectrumAs far as the native Americans who have grown up on liberal dose of New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox are concerned you would need more action than scores like 95 113 119 to bring the footfalls at the turnstilesObviously if you have to showcase it to the world and sell it I dont think its a great selling product but for cricket its tight competition It brings the other teams and the higher teams very close to each other said South African batter Heinrich Klaasen after a matchI think all the batters are keen to get out of this place to be fair The bowlers would love to stay here he saidAlso ReadKey highlights from the second week of the ICC T20 World CupComing back to the timing if one wants regular series matches need to be held in the evening unless its just catering to the broadcasters demand of 8 pm IST timing which means that on weekdays you will not have big crowds in futureThe broadcasters never show but there were enough empty seats during the match against Ireland which was a midweek fixtureThe minimum price of tickets for an India vs Pakistan game was USD 300 and the highest for corporate box was USD 10000Sample this The lowest ticket price for a New York Yankees baseball game is USD 46 while in case of basketball La Lakers and Chicago Bulls have lowest priced tickets at much less than USD 54 and 34 respectively The courtside marquee tickets for Lakers or Bulls game is around USD 3000The question arises that apart from the Asian community will ICC be able to attract the native Americans The answer currently is an emphatic NoFloridas Fort Lauderhill has been cricket worlds go to destination for international games and Indian teams have been playing T20Is for some time nowBeing a coastal area Florida is always affected by inclement weather and flash floods but yet ICC couldnt arrange for full ground cover which wouldnt have led to three washouts in three daysThis question should be asked to the ICC people I wont be able to answer that I dont know the reason why it was not covered and why didnt have enough covers to cover the whole ground If they had covered it definitely that would have helped Indias batting coach Vikram Rathour said after his teams match against Canada got washed outSo unless ICC is keen on tying loose ends cricket in America would be a sport played by South Asians watched by South Asians and that certainly cant be called true globalisation of the game by any stretch of the imaginationWith agency inputs