5 Things you didn’t know about the West Indies v India T20I series

Two of the biggest Twenty20 International teams West Indies and India will face off in the United States of America and more precisely in the state of Florida. Cricket isn’t the most popular sport in the country that loves baseball, basketball, ice hockey and even soccer for that matter more than the bat and ball game and that is where the challenge lies.

It isn’t the first time that an international series is being played in the United States but definitely the most exciting one of what the country has seen. India probably the largest cricket consuming population in the world also has a considerable presence in the US and that shall serve enough to attract people to fill in the stands.

The Caribbean team is the ruling world champion of the format and team India placed at no.2 in the T20 team rankings is definitely eying the top spot. Both the teams are full of power hitters and impact players that breed which makes T20 cricket the most exciting of the three sons the game has. Here we take a look at the things you didn’t know about the West Indies v India T20I series.

1. The ground:

The Central Broward Regional Park in Lauderhill, Florida is located 50 kilometers to the north of Miami and is the first and the only ICC certified ODI standard stadium in the USA. The first T20I between West Indies and India will be the 5^th T20I match to be played at the Central Broward Regional Park.

It previously hosted four T20Is in 2010. The Kiwis seem to have liked the stadium as they played a couple of matches against Sri Lanka, and then played two matches against West Indies here in 2012.

The stadium has the capacity to accommodate 15,000 people. It also hosted six matches last month for the USA leg of the Caribbean Premier League. Facilities on offer at the ground impressed Indian head coach Anil Kumble as he said that he didn’t expect them to be that good.

2. Tickets:

The enthusiastic cricket fans most of whom are expected to be NRIs will pay anything between USD 75 to USD 250 which converts to approximately Rs 5000 to Rs 16000 to witness the Indian team play the T20 Internationals against West Indies.

BCCI in its media release stated that the tickets will range from USD 75 (INR 5000) to USD 250 (INR 16000) for a single match. However, they have another option for fans that are willing to watch both the games. The combo ticket for the two T20Is of the VIP stand will come at a cost of USD 450: INR 30,000.

The Central Broward Regional Park has six different stands – VIP, Party Stand, West Grandstand, East Grandstand, Mounds/Bleachers and Grounds and the price of the tickets will vary stand wise.

3. History of Cricket in the US:

Though United States don’t have an operational associating affiliated with the International Cricket Council (ICC) at the moment but the truth is cricket along with Native American sport lacrosse was not only the first organized team sport but also the first major team sport in the US.

If one digs into the history they would notice that the first ever international cricket match was played in North America. Back in 1844, the USA team hosted the Canadian team called the ‘British Empire’s Canadian Province’ at that time in New York. Batting first Canada could only manage 82 runs in 32 overs if that total seemed insufficient to you the home team in their reply were bowled out for just 64 runs and eventually lost the game by 23 runs.

The results of the six international matches played at the Central Broward Regional Park went the following way – NZ beat SL, SL beat NZ, WI beat NZ and WI beat NZ.

4. The audience:

The United States hasn’t witnessed a lot of cricket and after the USCA being banned by the ICC, the team hasn’t been able to participate in any major tournament and for that matter hasn’t played many matches which has discouraged the local cricket fans. But with the ICC determined to grow the game in that part of the world it is probably the first of the many good things to follow.

The game has been scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Indian Standard Time and that means it will start at 10 a.m. as per the local time. Despite the fact that its weekend not a lot of local US citizens would want to go out for a cricket match that early in the morning. The match time that is the best for the home viewers watching on TV isn’t the best to attract spectators to the stadium.

It is obvious that a major chunk of those present in the stadium will be Indians but the significance of the game will only increase if it is able to attract the locals to the ground. On a lot of occasions, the Indian fans have flown to the West Indies to watch their team play and this will be a great opportunity for them to root for the team in their own country.

5. Indian cricket lovers:

It’s a big occasion of course for the players but more so for the audience. It’s not one of the exhibition matches that keep happening around in the United States and not many care. It’s the Indian cricket team that is there to play a couple of T20 matches against world champs of the format the West Indies.

The country is home to a considerable Indian and Asian population and that is the biggest cricketing audience in the world. Indian fans are expected to turn out in numbers for the game since it is the first time their team will be playing a T20I match in the US. It is believed that fans from various parts of the country will fly in to witness the historic series.

The population of Indian Americans in Florida as per the 2010 census was 128,735. Indians form the largest chunk of Asians in Florida and that is definitely a positive sign. If the BCCI is to be believed they expect both the games to be sold out.