Cricket is finally set to take over the United States!
The blockbuster India-Pakistan game at this year's T20 World Cup will be held in New York, which will host eight matches of the competition, hosted jointly by the West Indies and United States.
India versus Pakistan contests, which happens only at ICC World Cups these days, are the biggest money pullers for the International Cricket Council and it is not a surprise to see the South Asian neighbours clash in the league stages at every World Cup, whether ODI or T20I.
The 34,000-seat Nassau County international cricket stadium in New York state is expected to be filled to the brim when India take on Pakistan on June 9.
The ICC is hoping the World Cup will help it crack the lucrative sports market in the US, which hosted the IPL-style Major League Cricket T20 league last year and has nearly 30 million cricket fans in that country.
The Nassau County stadium would repurpose the grandstands used for the Formula 1 Grand Prix in Las Vegas, and have drop-in pitches.
ICC's Head of Events Chris Tetley said once completed, the Nassau County stadium would be bigger than Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium.
'We need to do something on this scale to make an impact in a country like the US, with the sports market it's got,' Tetley said.
'It's a clearly defined target market for ICC. As we all know, it's the largest sports market in the world. It's already our third biggest broadcast market, and we've identified at least 30 million cricket fans in the US.'
