BCCI today announced that the Indian team will lock horns with the current T20 champions West Indies in a 2 match international T20 series in the US on August 27th and 28th.
The Venue for the fixture is going to be The Central Broward Regional Park located at Fort Lauderdale in Florida. This is the same ground where New Zealand and Sri Lanka had played a 2 match T20 series back in 2010 which resulted in a 1-1 draw.
This is a Great step towards globalising the game and spread it to wider parts of the world. In 2015, Shane Warne and Sachin Tendulkar had hosted an Exhibition 3 Match T20 series where they captained the Two sides ‘ Sachin Blasters’ & ‘ Warne Warriors ‘ and Shane Warne stood victorious in all the 3 fixtures last year. There was a huge attendance in the stands as the American citizens got to watch the legends of the game take on each other.
The Second leg of The Caribbean Premier league is also being played in the US to widespread and popularise the game and so far, the reception from the crowd has been really motivating.
BCCI President, Mr.Anurag Thakur has said that this is an effort to reach new markets and new spectators which is henceforth a great opportunity for cricket lovers in the US to watch the2 teams in action.
The 2 teams are currently playing against each other in a Test series in West Indies which will conclude on 22nd August. The Indian team handsomely won the 1st match in style where team India’s new test captain scored his maiden Double Century and India’s spin maestroAshwin grabbed 7 wickets to win the match with an innings and 92 runs.
The last time India played a T20 series was under Dhoni’s captaincy in Zimbabwe the baton was passed to the youngsters and they had won the series with a formidable margin of 2-1.
The Last time the both teams played was at the 2016 World T20 Semi-final where the West Indian team thrashed the hosts with a margin of 7 wickets with 2 balls to spare. West Indies went on to win the Championship as Brathwaite pulled a last over heroic effort where he butchered stokes as he powered 4 consecutive Sixes into the crowd to lift the silverware.
The officials are also making efforts to make this event an annual fixture to make America acquainted with the game.
It will be an interesting Series to look forward as The No.1 T20 Batsmen Kohli will take on The No.1 T20 Bowler Badree after the conclusion of the Test Series .
– By Akshath Jeksani
