New York (United States of America): India finished its 12-day eventful stay in New York and will be now flying to the warmer climes of Florida, where the Adelaide curated pitches were matured and stabilised on their way to New York.
At the Nassau County Cricket Stadium, India was put through high-difficulty games on wickets which even International Cricket Council (ICC) later acknowledged had niggles which needed to be set right.
If the Nassau County stadium was all about a pretty perch amid manicured greens of the popular Eisenhower Park, it was also about below-par scores, the wicket flying off the handle and players playing with fear of injury.
Other than that it was also about a record 34,500 largely Indian diaspora crowd on the India-Pakistan match day and a sub-continental spirit that converged on Long Island much to the consternation of the locals.
"I had never heard about cricket but, man, it is huge. No other sport on Long Island has been so big with such a huge draw," says Christian, who runs an Uber.
Even people like Michelle are happy that cricket came to New York. "It's been a busy June for me. Business has been good and my rooms all sold out. I love cricket. It made money for me," she says with a laugh.
Michelle's tony Airbnb facility has been housing journalists and fans for the season at Uniondale which is somewhat close to the stadium. The security arrangements have so far been impeccable with the NYPD handling the task with utmost efficiency.
"The crowd flow and the transits to the stadium, the car park facilities — everything was good for the fans," says a gushing cricket fan Vandana, who got some photo ops with veterans like Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri, Navjot Singh Sidhu, Ricky Ponting and others in the car park.
For a World Cup to be held in a terrain alien to the game had to come with niggles of all kinds. Players, for one, had to go for practice to a faraway venue with makeshift press conferences being held in the ice hockey rink for lack of options.
Long walks into the deep parks which houses the nets was a name for all. Food and water arrangements were sorely missed and every time players needed water someone from the support staff would have to rush to the ice rink building in a golf cart to get some.
Nets are usually held at the match venue but the Nassau County stadium was not equipped for the practice area which was then provided to players at Cantiague Park, a 12-minute, 20-dollar drive from the match venue.
The stadium itself now will be folded up as the Group stage matches are over and the tournament will be shifting to the Caribbean for its business end.
The positive was that India had a good run here despite all the difficulties. It won all of the four matches it played here, including the warm-up game against Bangladesh.
The one against Ireland was a cruiser with Rohit Sharma winning the toss and electing to bowl. The nature of the pitch limited the game to just 96 runs which India made easily. The one against Pakistan was a differently-enabled thriller. Pakistan won the toss and its bowlers relished the conditions to go through the Indian batting line-up like a shredder, allowing just 119 runs in the bargain.
But then came the Indian bowlers spearheaded by Jasprit Bumrah to win the game from the dead despite Pakistan having a great chance to victory for most of the innings.
Other than the middle where the action was happening, the ICC kept the cricket chirp impregnating the atmosphere all the way to the famous Times Square where iconic buildings had skipper cascades on later show, the players taking trips to lady liberty, a lot many events being held on a daily basis where a lot of people got to see and hear cricketing veterans like VVS Laxman, Rameez Raja, Sunil Gavaskar, Navjot Singh Sidhu and others amid splashy Indian song and dance shows and ticketed dinners.
One doesn't really know how much of this will impact the New Yorkers for cricket to stay in their psyche and grow from there to capture their imagination once the Nassau Cricket Stadium is dismantled and taken away for the next big event that is not scheduled for America in the near future.
Till then, however, cricket have the Americans a taste of how much for a big bash this game is. "Baseball, football or tennis — no game was ever as big as cricket and the sheer volume of its spectators," says Brendan, who works at a grocery store in Long Island. Even if this was the case on a temporary basis, it is heartening. From here on, American cricket would not be a never-heard entity.
Read More
T20 World Cup 2024 | India Advances Into Super Eight With Seven-wicket Win Over USA
T20 World Cup 2024: India Bowlers Put Up Dominant Show; Restrict USA To 110/8
