for its first participation, the American national team beats that of Pakistan

The use of superlatives is commonplace in the world of sport, but this time, we can safely call the Americans’ victory a sensational entry into the world of cricket. The United States, which is organizing the Cricket World Cup this year, has never participated in this competition; the federation only has 10,000 members throughout the country. And the American selection beat Pakistan on Thursday June 6, 2024 in the Dallas stadium in Texas. Pakistan is one of the three nations (with India and Australia) to concentrate the 120 million practitioners recorded throughout the world. Which makes cricket the second largest sport on the planet.

It is mainly in South Asia that cricket attracts crowds, the region of the world where an average of one billion viewers do not miss a single World Cup match. It is the third most followed sporting event on the planet, behind the Olympic Games and the Football World Cup. So the first tantalizing and obvious prospect is that cricket can make big money in the United States. The American sports market being the largest in the world, America can bring in big profits from cricket, a marriage celebrated 10 months ago in the United States, by one of the co-founders of the American Major Cricket League, Vijay Srinivasan. “Cricket has existed here for centuries. George Washington played there during the American Revolution, it existed during the Civil War, it is the sport that gave birth to baseball… We are convinced that cricket is perfect for the American audience. The matches only last three hours now, it’s fast, exhilarating. It’s the perfect time to relaunch it in America, the new version of cricket is hitting the world like lightning“, did he declare.

The Southeast Asian community is the one that has established itself the most in the American territory in recent years, + 40% between 2010 and 2017 and nearly five million Americans of Indian or Pakistani origin, a reservoir of consumers rather reassuring for investors. Last advantage of developing cricket in the United States: soft power. Cricket diplomacy is a new example that sport is a vector of influence and rapprochement. In recent months, many American diplomats have tried their hand at cricket in videos posted on social media. In India and Bangladesh the method has already proven its effectiveness. All means are good today to serve American interests in South Asia, especially when China, for its part, offers certain countries in the region to generously finance the organization of sporting events.