Monank Patel has experienced first-hand the ‘tremendous growth’ of cricket in the United States and believes its reintroduction at the Olympic Games in LA28 will further entrench the sport in that country.
Born in cricket-crazy India, Patel has seen in real-time how the sport is increasingly piquing the interest of the American public. The United States – where baseball is the prevailing bat-and-ball sport – has long been considered a potential sleeping giant of cricket.
“The growth of cricket has been tremendous, and it’s been going so fast,” Patel said in an exclusive interview with Olympics.com.
While the sport in the US is largely played by the cricket-loving diaspora from Indian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan and Bangladeshi communities, the recent T20 World Cup has introduced it to a broader audience.
The US co-hosted the global showpiece along with the West Indies where the national team reached unprecedented heights advancing past the group stages and into the Super 8 knockouts. The team were beaten by the eventual finalists South Africa, bringing an end to a remarkable showing at the tournament.
“The World Cup was eye-opening for a lot of audiences and us also, it’s good that we played really good cricket, and we performed at the highest level,” Patel said.
“The fans know the game now, there’s a lot of new fans coming up and supporting the team and trying to learn the sport.
“This World Cup has definitely helped the cricket community, and the sport is going to grow even faster.”
