We welcome players like Unmukt Chand, but we need to grow organically: USA Cricket Chairman wants local talent

Cricket is expanding in newer territories and regions as a sport as we see newer teams coming up in ICC’s regional championships and qualifying tournaments. Amongst the newer territories and national teams, United States of America (USA) has been one of the pioneers and one of the biggest regions on the ICC’s radar.

In fact, Cricket in USA is one of the strategic priorities that ICC is planning to develop to ensure the growth of cricket. USA hosting the 2024 T20 World Cup alongside West Indies and also participating will be a welcome step towards the objective.

“So I think, in the world of cricket, there’s no event, bigger than the World Cup. And that’s the best way to announce ourselves globally. There are two historic moments happening in 2024. One is, of course, we are co-hosting the World Cup for the first time. And second, is that we are gonna be playing the World Cup as well — the national team is going to play the World Cup. So it can’t get better than that,” the USA Cricket CEO Vinay Bhimjiani told Firstpost in an exclusive conversation.

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Although West Indies Cricket will take the senior role, being a full-time member and are looking after the majority of preparations, having their stadiums witness some of the greatest players from the current generation diving around the field will be significant for them.

However, the bigger prospect is the USA Women’s Under-19 team qualifying for the inaugural World Cup in South Africa, which commences on 14 January. The 2023 Under-19 Women’s World Cup will be the inaugural edition of the tournament, to be hosted by South Africa.

USA, being the only eligible team from the Americas regional group, qualified automatically for the tournament.

USA Cricket Chairman Atul Rai was eloquent about how important the milestone is for them.

“To catapult our cricket, women’s cricket into the world scene is a humongous deal. So from that perspective alone, it puts the world’s eye onto women’s cricket in the US. So it is a significant milestone for us, Rai said in a conversation with Firstpost.

“It’s a significant event for us, and we’re very proud of what these girls have done. And, we only can see this going further and further into a new era of growth of cricket in the US, especially from the women’s side.”