World Cup will change American cricket

If we look at

performance and results, Nepal and America are almost at the same level. Nepal got one-day international recognition from the World Cup qualifiers held in Zimbabwe in 2018. The United States, by making a more difficult journey, reached the same status as Nepal by becoming a one-day internationally recognized nation in the same year.

But America is the second country to play international cricket, if not the first. The first international match of world cricket was played by America and Canada in 1844 at the St. George's Cricket Club ground in New York. 33 years later, ie in 1877, the first Test cricket was played in Melbourne between Australia and England, which became a foundation for establishing cricket.

The first international cricket match between America and Canada lasted three days. There are figures of 5 to 20 thousand people watching the match between these two teams directly from the field. Perhaps so many spectators have rarely been seen in America since going to the ground.

The ninth edition of the Twenty-20 World Cup, which will begin on Saturday, is sure to increase the excitement of cricket in America again. America and West Indies are hosting this World Cup. While the first few matches will be played in the US, most of the matches are scheduled to be played in the West Indies. Cricket World Cup is going to be held in America for the first time.

Coincidentally, the first match of this World Cup is between USA and Canada. This will renew the 180-year long cricketing relationship between the two. Both teams reached the World Cup for the first time. Because cricket is more active in the state of Texas than in other states in the US, it is expected that a large number of spectators will attend the match between the US and Canada at the Grant Prairie Cricket Stadium in Dallas. Nepal is starting the Twenty20 World Cup tour for the second time after playing against the Netherlands on June 4 at this ground. All 15,000 tickets for this match have been sold.

Nepal will play Sri Lanka on June 11 in Florida. A lot of tickets have been sold for this match as well. India and Pakistan will play in New York on June 9. The match will be held at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium, which was constructed after work began 4 months ago. The structure of this stadium with a capacity of 34,000 spectators is temporary. After the World Cup, its structure can be demolished again.

This stadium is being started with a warm-up (practice) match between India and Bangladesh on Saturday. "We're delighted to be able to open this warm-up match to the public, and in particular to be able to give local residents the opportunity to see first-hand what's happening in their own back yard," said Brett Jones, chief executive officer of T20 Americas.

While all practice games played at Grand Prairie in Dallas were played behind closed doors, no spectators were allowed inside the stadium. Many spectators from Nepal reached the gate of the stadium and returned. As the work inside the stadium was going on at the last minute, there was no live television, streaming of the games played in Dallas, and the media was not allowed to take pictures. It can be felt that there is a big setback in the agile management of American cricket.

However, once the World Cup begins, America will be the focus of world cricket. It is expected to play a good role in popularizing cricket in America. In America, where sports like American football, baseball, basketball, tennis, ice hockey are popular, cricket is also trying to make a big presence. They have been playing a big role in establishing cricket in the US as they have come from other cricket playing countries including the full nations of the ICC and are living here.

Due to Major League Cricket (MLC) and Minor League Cricket, the destination of many cricketers has recently become America. Corey Anderson, who once scored the fastest half-century in one-day international cricket from New Zealand, is now the vice-captain of the US national cricket team. Captain Unmukt Chand, who led India to the ICC U-19 World Cup title, is now looking for a cricket future in America.

MLC started last year. The second edition of the MLC will begin four days after the end of the Twenty20 World Cup. The MLC has 10 categories of player draft and the players in the top category will get a salary of 75 thousand dollars for playing one season of the MLC. The

participating team includes Spencer Johnson, Sunil Narine, Jason Roy, Andrew Russell, Adam Zampa, New York MI Trent Boult, Tim David, Rashid Khan, Nicholas Pooran, Kieran Pollard, Kagiso Rabada, San Francisco Unicorns Finn Allen and Haris Rauf, Seattle Orcas have retained players such as Henrik Klaassen, Quinton de Kock, Wayne Parnell, Imad Wasim, Texas Super Kings Faf du Plessis, Mitchell Santner and Washington Freedom have retained players like Akel Hussain and Marco Jensen for the upcoming season.

Franchise cricket is making it easy to make cricket a brand in America. Starting in 2026, the MLC is set to expand from six teams by two teams to eight teams, and this will give more foreign players a chance to play in the US.

Those who did not get a chance in MLC are playing in Minor Cricket League. Since 2021, Minor Cricket League has been taking place. Eleven teams competed in the first season, with the New Jersey Stallions winning the title by defeating the Dallas Mustangs in the finals. Nepal has been practicing at the indoor cricket academy of the Mustang team for the last two days. After the practice match with USA was canceled due to no ball, the Nepali team went directly to Mustang Cricket Academy to practice. 26 franchise teams from four regional divisions are competing in the

minor league. A team will play 14 to 16 games. Vasant Regmi, Kanishk Chaugain, Prithu Baskota from Nepal who were living in America were playing in the minor league.

Four years later, cricket in the US can still take off. Cricket has also been included in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. Cricket has been included in the Olympics for the first time since 1900. Cricket, which is about to return to the Olympics after 128 years, can make waves in America.