World T20 2024 | India-Pakistan clash likely to be held in the USA
The encounter between India and Pakistan at the next World T20 would likely take place in the USA considering the great support for both teams in the country. USA Cricket President Atul Rai further revealed that ICC inspections took place at various venues across the nation, including Los Angeles.
The ICC World T20 2024 is set to be the first major tournament to be conducted on the shores of America with the West Indies and the United States of America elected as the co-hosts for the marquee event. With the announcement comes the possibility of an encounter between India and Pakistan being held in the third most populated country in the world, with high stakes involved. The International Cricket Council is yet to announce the division of games between the Caribbean group of islands and the USA but the latter's cricketing president is hopeful of hosting the much anticipated India-Pakistan game in their country.
“Preferably it will be held in the USA considering that India’s T20 games against West Indies in Florida were a complete sell-out,” Atul Rai was quoted saying to PTI in an interview.
The global cricketing authority has already conducted inspections in places such as Los Angeles, Dallas, San Francisco, and Oakland.
“The ICC events team headed by Chris Tetley had travelled up and down back in May when they inspected a lot of grounds across various cities. A few weeks back (December), they again came back and narrowed their search. The ICC wants to give us at least 18 months' time to get all the venues ready and functional for a global event. During the last inspection, they checked out the Oaklands Coliseum in San Francisco and a ground in Los Angeles (Woodley Cricket Field). They also looked at grounds in Dallas and Texas,” Rai added.
Most stadiums in the USA are intended for baseball, leading to smaller dimensions as well as seating capacities. However, Rai cited previous cricketing occurrences in the country to dispel all such worries.
“If we look at the ground in Los Angeles, India A had travelled here to play five games against Australia. It’s a proper cricket ground with big boundaries and also spectator capacity is pretty good,” Rai stated.
Rai highlighted the possibility to hold the encounter in the country's most populated city, New York, as well as offered his insights into the possible timings of the encounter given the difference in time zones with the Asian subcontinent.
“New York is also a possibility as there is a huge population that follows the sport. Two decades back, the then Mayor of NYC had claimed that one out of every eight New Yorkers is connected to cricket. The temporary galleries if it is held in any of the New York City grounds will be built in maximum two weeks. In New York, all grounds have turf pitches,” Rai explained.
“If matches are held on West Coast then they will probably start evening local time and air early morning in India. If it’s east coast then it could be evening India time and morning local time. ICC will have a final call although they would take our inputs,” he concluded on the matter.
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