Cricket Returns to America!
What is Major League Cricket? Is it a big deal?
The Major League Cricket began on July 13, 2023, with the match between Texas Super Kings and Los Angeles Knight Riders at the Grand Prairie Stadium, Texas.
Dubbed as ‘AMERICA’S NEW PROFESSIONAL CRICKET LEAGUE’ it is:
A new league, six new teams and a new sport coming at the world class level to the United States.
Although the league and the teams are new, it is not the first time that cricket has come to America.
In 2004…
Hold on a second. Why not take this opportunity to delve into the history of cricket in America.
Short History of Cricket in America
The US seems to have a rich history of cricket.
There are claims that the sport was already popular there in the 18th century as wicket (wicket ball). In fact, the first-ever international cricket match was played between the United States and Canada in 1844. It was attended by 10000 people. In those days, cricket was by far the biggest sport in the USA. Canada won that match by 23 runs. (This may be the reason why Americans eventually stopped caring about the game?!) Otherwise, the Philadelphia cricket club was founded in 1854 and the game continued.
Cricket was especially significant in Philadelphia. They had a cricket team that defeated Australia and played with the English regularly. But with time, other sports took root in Philadelphia and the British took the sport into a commonwealth direction. This meant, cricket faded into obscurity in the US.
Not even Hollywood and the President could bring it back to relevance.
(So the British were the reason why Americans stopped caring about cricket?!)
In 2004, they tried Pro cricket. It failed.
They tried American Premier League.
Among the major cricket matches/tournaments, they haven’t yet played modern Test cricket or the World Cups. They have played one ICC Champions Trophy in 2004 but were destroyed by Australia and New Zealand.
But things are changing now.
They will host the 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. This means, they will finally participate in a major tournament — qualifying as hosts.
But that’s not the major news.
The MAJOR NEWS IS:
What is Major League Cricket?
Now that the power of cricket has shifted from UK to India, the US seems to be finally ready to welcome back a lost hobby.
Cricket has gone through a big shift in the last two decades. Since the introduction of the lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2008, cricket has slowly but surely moved from being a majorly-international to majorly-franchise sport. The IPL is one of the most lucrative sports leagues in the world. It currently has ten teams and each team is owned by significant people/businesses in India.
And it is those significant IPL people/businesses that have made Major League Cricket possible by buying some of the teams and setting the league up.
The six teams of Major League Cricket are:
- MI New York: Based in New York, it is owned by Indiawin Sports, which also owns Mumbai Indians, one of the most successful and lucrative IPL teams.
- Texas Super Kings: Based in Dallas, Texas, it is co-owned by Chennai Super Kings, one of the most successful and lucrative IPL teams.
- Los Angeles Knight Riders: Based in Los Angeles, it is owned by the Knight Riders Group which owns the two times IPL winners Kolkata Knight Riders.
- Seattle Orcas: They are based in Seattle and owned by an investor group including Microsoft’s hero and poet-friendly Satya Nadella.
- San Francisco Unicorns: From Bay Area, they are owned by Anand Rajaraman and Venky Harinarayan.
- Washington Freedom: Based in DC, this team is owned by Sanjay Govil. It has a partnership with Australian cricket’s New South Wales. This way Major League Cricket has support from Australia.
The tournament will conclude on July 30, 2023
With great change in power comes great changes in mannerisms, and this new cricket mannerism of investments and franchises seems to be the perfect thing to bring back cricket to America.
Is it a big deal?
Generally, South Asians love cricket. And with over 5 million South Asians in the USA, with cricket’s top players participating, and an approach that is more business oriented than tradition, it can be a big deal.
Certainly bigger than the GLT20 up here in Canada starting July 2023 in Brampton which boasts retired cricketers as its marquee players. (Seems like USA cricket has finally taken revenge for a 179-year-old scar!)
Thank you for reading.
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