indica News Bureau-
Describing himself as a passionate cricket fan, Google’s Indian-American CEO Sundar Pichai on Wednesday,June 12, said he is “rooting for India to do well” in the World Cup Cricket tournament and predicted that the finals would be played between host England and India.
“It (world cup finals) should be (between) England in India. But, you know, Australia and New Zealand, these are all very, very good teams,” Pichai told a Washington audience of top corporate executives from India and the United States during the India Ideas Summit of USIBC wherein he received the Global Leadership Award.
“Who do you think is going to be the final match (between),” asked USIBC president Nisha Desai Biswal. Pichai’s answer was in response to this question from Biswal.
“I’m a passionate a cricket fan,” Pichai said as he shared some of his cricket and baseball experience in the United States. “When I first came here, I tried to kind of adapt to baseball. I have to say it was a bit challenging,” he said.
“In my first game, I was proud because I hit the ball on the back. It’s a really good shot in cricket. I was like, well look, what I did. But people didn’t appreciate it,” he said.
“In cricket when you run, you always take your bat with you. So I also ran between the base with my bat as well. So eventually, I realized baseball was a bit difficult. I can adjust on many things, but I’m going to stick to cricket,” he said.
“There is a World Cup Cricket going on. It’s a wonderful tournament, … rooting for India to do well. But there’s a lot at stake here,” Pichai said.
Cricket also found mention in the key note address of the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo as he described the ongoing World Cup Cricket as one of the most important global events of the day.
“I understand that you’ve been having deep, important conversations among you about one of the most important global events of our day, something with major potential to change the world, deep international events that capture the attention of billions and billions of people,” he said.
“Of course, that’s the Cricket World Cup,” Pompeo said amidst laughter from the audience.
