News that the Men’s Soccer World Cup finals will come to North Jersey in 2026 has stirred plenty of buzz. But there’s another major international tournament for Garden State fans to get excited about, and this one is only a few months away.
The ICC Men’s T20 Cricket World Cup will be held in June, with matches in the Caribbean and — for the first time — in the United States. Eight of the 55 matches will take place at the under-construction Nassau County International Cricket Stadium on Long Island. The finals will take place in Barbados on June 29.
Twenty teams will compete in this monthlong tournament, showcasing the second-most-watched sport in the world, with a global estimated fanbase of 2.5 billion, according to the 2023 World Atlas, compared with 3.5 billion for soccer.
The World Cup cricket combatants will include 2022 T20 champion England, 2022 runner-up Pakistan and powerhouses Australia, India and New Zealand. The USA and West Indies national teams will also participate, since they are the hosts.
Tickets for the T20 World Cup first went on sale from Feb. 1 to 7 through a public ballot system in which fans could apply for the right to purchase. Applicants were chosen at random and notified by email. Those tickets not claimed by the chosen applicants go on sale to the general public starting Thursday.
Sriram Vedantha Ramanujam is one of the North Jersey cricket fans hoping to score some seats. The Glen Rock resident is a coach and co-founder of the North Jersey Youth Cricket Academy, which trains youth players ages 4 to 18 at the Saddle River County Park County Pitch in Fair Lawn and at the Sports Domain Academy in Clifton.
Ramanujam, a native of India, said he hopes to get tickets for the tournament’s most-anticipated match, India vs. Pakistan, at the Nassau stadium on June 9. Standard level tickets for the showdown cost $175, and premium seats are selling for $400, Forbes reported recently.
The 34,000-seat stadium is scheduled to be completed in May, just weeks before play begins.
“I’m hoping to get tickets to take some of the kids from the academy. Four, five of us at the academy are trying to get tickets,” Ramanujam said. “This World Cup coming to the U.S. is a remarkable milestone.”
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For the uninitiated, cricket originated in 16th-century England and is played by hitting a ball with a paddle-shaped bat. Unlike baseball, the team that takes the field attempts to throw the ball past the batter (known as bowling) by bouncing it on the ground (known as a pitch) to hit the wicket behind the batter and induce an out.
The ball is bowled six times to a player standing in an area called the crease in a period of play known as an over. When the over is complete, a second player standing 66 feet away at the opposite side of the pitch takes a turn batting.
As in baseball, the batter wants to hit the ball and score runs while avoiding making an out. Players can score one to six runs, depending on where the ball is hit in the field, unless a fielder catches it.
To win, one team must score more runs than its opponent. A team has 11 players. After one side sees 10 of its players get out, the other team bats. Teams each play a session known as innings. The matches can last a few hours or several days, depending on the format. The upcoming World Cup matches are in the T20 format, which means 20 overs.
The sport grew in popularity outside England, starting with the first international cricket match, played in 1844 between the U.S. and Canada at the St. George’s Cricket Club in Manhattan. In 1859, English players toured North America, including a stop in Hoboken. Cricket has been played in the U.S. since the early 1700s but was surpassed in popularity by baseball after the Civil War.
The sport gained popularity again in the U.S. in the 1950s due to an influx of immigrants from the West Indies and South Asia, where cricket is the national pastime. Those immigrants gave cricket a foothold in their new homeland, as evidenced by the upcoming World Cup and the inclusion of T20 cricket in the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
Ramanujam said he hopes the tournament will boost the sport’s popularity in the U.S. and inspire tristate area towns to develop and maintain more cricket fields.
“One thing that’s a big problem in the States right now is the availability of cricket grounds,” Ramanujam said. “It’s expensive to maintain, but I believe this World Cup will help with that point as well.”
He is also looking forward to seeing some of the best players in the world, including his favorite, Indian star Virat Kohli.
Kohli is also a favorite of another North Jersey cricket aficionado. Paterson resident Afzal Hussain last year helped form the New Jersey Royals Premier Cricket League, a local venture that played matches in Westside Park in Paterson. Hussain, a native of Bangladesh who plays in various cricket leagues in the area, called the T20 World Cup an “icebreaking” tournament and a great introduction for international cricket fans to American shores.
“We know a lot of people who would tour America, specifically the New York area. That makes these games more exciting,” Hussain said. “You are going to see people come from Australia, New Zealand, Guyana, Jamaica and South Africa that may have never thought of visiting.”
Hussain said he was waiting for his email letting him know if he got tickets for the Bangladesh vs. South Africa match on June 10, and the India vs. Pakistan marquee matchup the day before. He wants to see some of his favorite players compete in that match, including Pakistani stars Babar Azam and Shahid Afridi and, on the Indian side, Kohli and Mohammed Siraj for India.
“That will be a dream come true to have someone like Virat Kohli play in front of your eyes, playing some cover drive or long drive and other shot. I would love to see those,” Hussain said.
This article contains material from USA TODAY.
Ricardo Kaulessar covers race, immigration, and culture for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to the most important news from your local community, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.t
Email: kaulessar@northjersey.com
Twitter: @ricardokaul
