Visakhapatnam: “Cricket is on the upswing. It's the next big thing in the US,” said US ICC Development Committee member Vijay Merera and qualified umpire Tarakeshwara Rao Janapareddy on the sidelines of the ICC T20 World Cup, which kicks off in the US and the West Indies on June 2. Both are immigrants from India. Tarakeshwara hails from Visakhapatnam. Both currently umpire in practice matches. Cricket has had a presence in the US since 1965. But since the 1990s, cricket has flourished, thanks to the migration of many IT professionals. Currently, cricket has a host of big names such as Unmukt Chand, Harpreet Singh, Smith Patel and Visakhapatnam-born D. Shiva Kumar (a member of the World Cup-winning U-19 team and a former Ranji player) involved in cricket. Cricket lovers in the US believe that if the US Olympic Committee recognises cricket as an Olympic sport ahead of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, sports scholarships will be offered at universities and cricket will definitely take off. Microsoft's Satya Nadella has also hinted at supporting cricket. Major and minor leagues have contributed immensely to cricket in the country. Players from countries such as India, Pakistan, neighboring West Indies, England, Sri Lanka and New Zealand are actively participating. Since 2019, the US has been playing ODIs and has qualified for the U-19 World Cup to be held in the US in 2022. Venu Pithike, who emigrated from AP, is the chairman and there are several other Telugus in USA Cricket. Among them are Srinivas Sarvaa (former Hyderabad age group player), Anji Bulus, Arjun Gona and Kuldip Singh Najjar, who hails from Vizyanagaram, was the head of USA Cricket before Venu.
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