U.S. is starting to embrace cricket, says top American diplomat

United States embraces cricket with T20 World Cup matches, signaling growing popularity and recognition of the sport.

The United States is starting to embrace cricket, a top American diplomat said Wednesday as the country for the first-time hosted T-20 World Cup matches, including super-popular India-Pakistan and India-US matches in New York.

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"In cricket terms, I am truly bowled over. It is really a tremendous honour and privilege for the United States to be hosting the men's T20 World Cup for the very first time. This is a great recognition that our country is starting to embrace cricket, a sport so beloved in so many other countries around the world,” Richard Verma, the Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources said at a reception here.

On Wednesday, the Department of State hosted "From Bouncers to Boundaries: An Evening to Celebrate the Men's T20 World Cup and Cricket in the USA Cricket World Cup". The reception was the "largest dedicated event for cricket" organised by the US government in history, he said.

"The 20 participating national teams highlight not only the skill of the world's best cricketers, but also the expansiveness of cricket's global reach. Having the US host the Cricket World Cup would have seemed unimaginable just 10 or 15 years ago. But today, Major League Cricket is flourishing in the United States,” Mr. Verma said.

"USA Cricket continues its instrumental work in supporting our national players and equipping youth and local communities with the tools they need to succeed in this sport. And I'm guessing cricket will have even more reach in the United States by the time this tournament concludes, especially if we keep winning matches to advance to the next round,” Mr. Verma said amidst cheers from the audience.

"But regardless of the results, I think people are pretty excited. Major news outlets are covering it. According to USA Cricket, more than 400 leagues have opened up in the United States with over 200,000 players and counting. This is a win for cricket fans that want to see the sport grow in the United States," he said.