College cricket and the Olympics: The future beyond the National Cricket League’s inaugural Sixty Strikes tournament

By Rifat Malik

“How do you grow the game?” asks NCL president Arun Agarwal. “In any sport, you get the players involved first and then the infrastructure second. “So we are engaging with different cities, different states and stakeholders… as early as this week, we are negotiating to expand the infrastructure, not only in Dallas but in other cities, such as Los Angeles, Atlanta and Chicago.”

Still in his sporting prime, days after the 10-day Sixty Strikes tournament ended, he displays the kind of enthusiasm and strategic thinking you would expect from an Indian-American businessman who is CEO of Dallas-based Nextt, one of the largest home textile companies in the United States. .

Agarwal, named last month by Gov. Greg Abbott as chairman of the board of directors of the Texas Economic Development Corporation, outlines his grand plan to popularize the sport in the United States. As he mentioned, a key element is involving star players such as Sir Vivian Richards, Suresh Raina, Shahid Afridi and Wasim Akram – just some of the legendary figures from the world’s second most-watched game who are adored by its 2.6 billion fans. .

The announcement that the “God of Cricket” Sachin Tendulkar would join the NCL ownership group was another powerful boost to its credibility. The deity himself was in North Texas last week, mentoring young aspiring cricketers at the University of Texas at the Dallas home stadium, appearing as the guest of honor at a Dallas Cowboys home game, and appropriately awarding the coveted Sixty Strikes trophy to Chicago CC, who convincingly beat Atlanta in the final.

“Cricket has been the most important journey of my life and I am pleased to be joining the National Cricket League at such an exciting time for the sport in America,” Tendulkar said during his visit. “The NCL’s vision of creating a platform for world-class cricket while inspiring a new generation of fans resonates with me…”

Agarwal has already initiated a series of in-depth debriefings with team owners, stakeholders, players and management staff and says he expects “big learnings” from the feedback to improve future tournaments. And there’s no resting on his laurels for the company’s central driving force, as he signals that American cricket’s next goal is already in sight.

“We are going to introduce the College Cricket League, which fulfills our vision of expanding the game,” says Agarwal. “We have over 20 colleges that have already signed up for that… from Georgetown to Purdue, A&M, UT Dallas and UCLA, they’ve signed up… we plan to do it after March Madness in April.”

Partnerships are key for Agarwal. NCL’s agreement with UTD is believed to be the first between a national sports league and a university and during the competition it partnered with dozens of local North Texas organizations with special nightly tributes to the Red Cross, veterans associations and non-profit organizations. domestic violence nonprofits like CHETNA-DFW. inter alia.

Not surprisingly, for a game beloved in the Indian subcontinent, thousands of people from the local diaspora of the Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities came to watch the games, while millions more watched through the NCL app and the online streaming.

While the International Cricket Council (ICC) gave its approval to the NCL short format, it first accredited its equivalent T10 or ten-man cricket format in 2018, for a UAE national championship. However, Agarwal believes his group has produced a winning rebranding formula.

“I would keep repeating 60 strikes like in a 60-ball game,” he says. “T10 was not successful due to a number of challenges and that’s why we wanted to give it a brand where American sports lovers understand what the game is and the strikes are so familiar to them because of baseball.”

He believes that today, only a certain type or generation of die-hard fans will be willing to watch something like the classic 5-day test match series he grew up watching. The 90-minute NCL period will appeal to most people, including a younger demographic, in line with sports such as basketball and American football, as well as soccer in the US by adding entertainment to the mix, like Sixty Strikes did, he says, “really proved successful.” .”

Agarwal is also excited that, for the first time in more than 120 years, cricket will once again be part of the Olympics and the United States will host the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles. With the men’s and women’s T20 or twenty major formats scheduled so far, there may be a move to a shorter format.

“Cricket is part of the 2028 Olympics but they haven’t decided on the format yet… I hope one of the discussions will be that there is a shorter format, and if it happens, it would be 60 balls. That will really validate this game,” says Agarwal.

And like millions of limited-overs cricket fans, he feels the sport’s governing body is on the verge of accrediting T-10 or Sixty Strikes cricket for international tournaments, saying: “I think eventually the ICC will adopt it as one of the official formats. “

Many observers agree that cricket is about to boom in emerging markets like the United States. Just days after the New Zealand women’s team’s historic victory over South Africa in the T20 World Cup in Dubai, the business tycoon says the NCL will also launch its own women’s league. Meanwhile, league owners are also in the process of building stadiums in key cities where teams have been based, such as Los Angeles, Chicago and Atlanta.

“The global reach is phenomenal,” Agarwal says. “Cricket today is where football was 15 years ago, but it won’t be 15 years until it gets there. “I give it three or four years, cricket will be one of the best games and our league will be one of the best sports leagues in this country.”