The USA’s remarkable victory over Pakistan in the ongoing T20 World Cup has significantly boosted cricket’s popularity in the country, according to Eric Garcetti, the US Ambassador to India. The co-hosts stunned the former champions in a Super Over during a Group A league match of the ICC event on June 6 in Dallas.
As a result, the Babar Azam-led Pakistani team was eliminated from the tournament before reaching the Super Eights.
“Cricket is a religion, as we often say in India. I think it is a great sport that is only just beginning to take off here in America,” Garcetti remarked.
“But given the number of Indians, South Asians, Australians, Kiwis, South Africans, Brits that live in America or are immigrants to America, it already has an amazing base,” Garcetti mentioned.
“I can’t wait to see it take off and one day be one of the great sports of America,” he added. Garcetti said he has now become a cricket fan. “I have become a cricket nut, as everybody knows. I love cricket. I think more and more Americans are learning to love a game that, you know, we played 150 years ago,” he said.
Garcetti hailed the entry of the USA into the Super Eights as a landmark moment. “I can’t believe we upset Pakistan. We beat Bangladesh before the World Cup started, and that we came close to beating India. I say close, because as a US ambassador to India, it’s the perfect outcome.
“We came close, but the Indians aren’t upset with me that we beat you. We advanced to the next round,” he said.
Garcetti said getting cricket featured in the Los Angeles Olympics 2028 was an important step. “When I helped put cricket into the Olympics here in America for 2028, I did that almost as much as a gift to India as it was to the rest of the cricket-loving world. “I know how] important it is to the Indian fan, to the Indian soul,” Garcetti said.
