By Ian Omoro
Cricket has traditionally been considered a recreational sport, and few people anticipated that it would gain popularity as a sport in the United States. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic completely stopped the cricket world. Harmeet Singh has been thinking back on his cricket career lately.
Singh was playing for Tripura, and the team was never a target for the India selectors. He experienced a great deal of uneasiness as a professional because of the position he held and the fact that his side did not play in the Indian Premier League. The franchise lost faith in him as a cricketer because he was not part of the Mumbai cricket team, which is based in his home state.
In 2020, Singh, who was offered by the Major Cricket League to join them, relocated to the USA with his family. Four years later, Singh is now a minor league winner with the Seattle Thunderbolts.
In the United States, cricket has come a long way. There was only one location, which is Lauderhill’s Central Broward Regional Park Stadium. There are now six grounds, three of which have already played host to the best teams from the previous T20 World Cup.
Singh thinks American cricket may achieve the same things as cricket in Afghanistan. Cricket in the US has amassed overwhelming support from the fans. In order to sustain cricket growth, it should be more accessible and understandable to a larger population, especially to those who are unaware. This can be achieved by building a base for every big state hub.
The cricket in the USA’s biggest challenge is continuity; it has a major impact on the cricket teams and inconsistency among the smaller teams. Singh shared the suggestion that bigger and smaller teams should have a competition.
“I’m also fairly new to the associate world, to give my big words, but what I feel and saw is that other than League 2, at least the bare minimum, what ICC can do is organize bilateral series with the top five teams. That keeps the associate nations in the game also, and an away series to a top-five team; if it is an away series, you can get the crowd also. It is a top team; they will be support for both,” Harmeet said in an interview with Cricket.com.
