Ritu Jha-
The excitement of the 2024 T20 Men’s World Cup in the US is drawing cricket fans, young and old, to be part of a moment in the game’s history. Some came to watch, while others participated and volunteered.
The World Cup begins June 1 and ends June 24.
New Jersey resident Dipesh Dutta [with the bag] left early to watch the India-Ireland on Wednesday, June 5, at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium, in Long Island, New York.
“I was very happy,” he said. “This was my second live match in a stadium. One was in Delhi. There they scored 200-280 runs. But here the second part of the game got over in just 12.2 overs when India made 97/2 to beat Ireland, 96 all out in 16 overs.
“It ended fast,” he said, his voice low with disappointment. “I live in New Jersey and after three hours of driving to Long Island to watch that match…” His voice trailed off.
Dutta said he could not afford the exorbitant prices sought for the more popular India-Pakistan match, and so spent $250 to watch India take on minnows Ireland.
“India-Pak is out of reach for me. It’s pricey, costs $3,000, I cannot think of it,” Dutta said. Car parking cost an additional $45.
“My friend had to pay $90 to park at another location,” Dutta recounted. The water and soda cost $6. A can of beer was $12. Food cost $17 for the captive members of the audience who were not allowed to bring in outside food or water.
While discussing the match, Dutta said that the excitement was there, but the game ended fast.
One of the culprits was possibly the pitch, which produced uneven bounce and side movement.
“Look, it’s not like a stadium in India… It’s small. The pitch was bouncy and bowler Mohammed Siraj was bowling too fast for the Irish batters. Indian stalwarts Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma were also struggling, with the ball coming to them high.
“They [the players] are not used to this kind of temporary [cricket] stadium,” he said, adding that the organizers set up the stadium in a few months.
“You cannot compare that with stadiums in Australia or England,” he said.
Dutta, who is a member and former captain of the NJ Revenants cricket club, said the International Cricket Council had taken the first step to popularize the game in the US. He pointed out that many Americans were shocked to see the huge crowds at even a match involving Nepal – and that, in Texas.
In fact, the people sitting beside him in New York had come over from Georgia and Texas.
Prakash Tiwari is president of the Edison Cricket Club, established in 2001, and which boasts 120 players.
He said he felt the ticket prices were beyond him, too. But he is not enamored of the idea of sitting in the stands.
“I am not a crowd guy and am fine watching from home,” he said. “I understand the stadium has a different excitement.”
But Tiwari’s principles militate against the idea of putting a high price on real fans.
“There was a lottery system,” he pointed out. Tickets were sold at concession prices using a lottery model. So not many got those.
Tiwari told indica, “Having this event [ICC T20 World Cup] in this country for the first time, the focus should not be commercial; it should be to popularize the game.”
He still likes the idea of the game being promoted in the US.
“Earlier, parents like myself would have no place to take our kids,” Tiwari said. “But now there are top facilities, like CricMax [an indoor coaching and training facility in Old Bridge, NJ].” He said that a lot of US under-19 players earned their cricketing chops there.
Nimit Shah, who plays at the Nassau County stadium on a regular basis, is a volunteer at the World Cup games there. His job is to coordinate children holding flags at the matches. Each game has 150 students holding up flags celebrating both teams.
Hemant Buch, founder of California Cricket Academy (CCA) told indica that nine of his CCAA students would not only be at two upcoming games to hold the flag, but would also sing the national anthems of the countries the two teams come from.
[Photo courtesy:Dipesh Dutta]
