India and West Indies will trade blows in two Twenty20 International matches in Lauderhill in Florida, United States, from August 27. The matches are being played in the US with a view to spread the game's wings to a global superpower, whose sporting culture is already knee-deep in its own pool: basketball, baseball, American football et al. How much of a possibility is it to breach through a culture that has been passed on through the generations?
While cricket, football and rugby are treated like religion in one part of the world, a vast majority of the Americans who have no association with the Indian subcontinent haven't even heard about the Gentleman's Game. Even a global sport like football could only gradually make inroads in the average American psyche; the FIFA World Cup in 1994 was seen as a game changer. In recent tournaments, the national football (read: soccer) team regularly features in the round of 16 of major footballing events.
Where is the so-called expansion of the game?
This is not the first time a cricket match has been moved to unfamiliar territory. In the past, the game has traveled to Canada and Morocco, too, and big teams were a part of the spectacle. It still failed to pique the interest of the local public. Between 1996 and 1998, a contest as big as India versus Pakistan was staged in Canada to add more mystique to the contest, and thereby lure a large legion of cricket-ignorant Canadians.
The Indians and Pakistanis, who make up for a sizeable number in Toronto, thronged the stadium. Canada did partake in three World Cups post the India-Pakistan series albeit with a team full of expatriates.
If the International Cricket Council genuinely cared about integrating more teams into the game, Ireland would have been on the fringes of being awarded Test status. The sucker punch, though, will be during the 2019 World Cup, where there won't be a single Associate Nation playing in the tournament.
Hosted by USA, made in West Indies
While the game is being played in the US, the event is stamped, sealed and promoted truly as a West Indian event. Out of the 70,000-strong population in Lauderhill, Florida, there is a 25% representation from the Caribbean islands alone. It is almost laughable to think of a two-match T20 series bulldozing its way into the American sporting fabric.
This is not the first time that the venue is hosting a match either – West Indies have played New Zealand and Sri Lanka each for a T20 match in the past. Even as recently as November 2015, some of the all-time greats touched down in the US to play three T20s on baseball pitches. Shane Warne and Sachin Tendulkar led the two teams out. It strictly turned out to be an exercise for subcontinent fans to reminisce and exchange notes about their childhood tales from the 1990s.
USA – the road ahead
There are documents which prove that cricket found its way in the US as far back as the 1700s, but never did the sport fail to captivate the public's imagination through the 20th century: Babe Ruth and his exploits in baseball might have left a permanent imprint through the course of time. As for inviting big stars and international teams, the thought might have stemmed from trying to replicate the transformation football underwent in the country in in the 1970s.
Football had its time under the sun in the US well before Pele, Franz Beckenbauer and Johan Cruyff touched down. USA had played three out of the first four World Cups between 1938 and 1950. The stars merely revamped the setup and helped the game crawl its way up the ranks as a serious sport.
Now, soccer has its own legion of fans. Many greats play in the Major League Soccer during the last legs of their careers. The women's team are the favourites in every big tournament they play in; they have won three World Cups and four gold medals in the Olympics.
Meanwhile, the Caribbean Premier League has managed to make a modest impact and has drawn new fans, however minuscule in number they are. While these matches haphazardly try to appeal to a new demographic, Test cricket will continue to be a clannish affair. T20s offer a safe bet – shorter duration, non-stop action, little or no test of patience or technique.
