Virat Kohli, the guardian batsman for the Indian national team, spoke about the growth of cricket in the United States of America (USA) ahead of the much-awaited T20 World Cup 2024.
The United States, along with the West Indies, will co-host the prestigious tournament which will be held from June 2 to 29. The upcoming T20 World Cup will be the first ICC event to be played in the United States. The US has secured the co-hosting rights for the premier event in 2021.
In a video shared by the US Consulate, Mumbai on its X handle (formerly Twitter), Virat Kohli admitted that India never considered the opportunity to play cricket in the US and praised the US's willingness to embrace change by introducing it.
“Honestly, I never thought cricket would be played in any capacity in the United States. Now it is a reality. It speaks volumes about the influence cricket has in the world and in the United States. The US is happy to embrace change and will probably be the first to embrace it on a global scale,” Kohli said in the video.
“The World Cup is a great start, it's an ideal start, so I think it will have a big impact. And it will start like a domino effect that will continue for a long time,” he added.
After the United States was selected as the co-host of the T20 World Cup 2024, Major League Cricket (MLC) was launched in 2021, and the inaugural tournament would be held two years later in 2023, with six teams representing major cities in the United States, including the Michigan New York Club, Los Angeles Knight Riders, Texas Super Kings, Washington Freedom, San Francisco Unicorns and Seattle Orcas.
MI New York defeated the Seattle Orcs in the finals to win the inaugural MLC tournament.
Published: Friday, May 31, 2024 7:43 PM IST
