Lauderhill is in Florida and about 13,000 kilometres from Lahore. Insignificant fact, right? Wrong. For, a rain-abandoned match in that city in the USA, featuring the host nation and Ireland, sent Pakistan crashing out of the T20 World Cup. For one of the pre-tournament favourites and finalists in 2022, this was as catastrophic as it could get. End of an era? Time will tell.
The equation was simple. The USA had to lose to Ireland for Pakistan to have any chance of staying alive in the competition. Pakistan’s commanding win over Canada after defeats against the USA and India had rekindled hopes in the nation which has won World Cups in both the formats. With rain grew despair, and eventually, their faint hopes were washed away.
The USA thus secured a historic berth in the Super Eight stage. This is the first time they have made it this far in an ICC tournament and it was achieved mainly because of their stunning win against Pakistan in a match which went to the Super Over. Cause for tremendous celebration in a country where the cricketers are mostly expats, and heartbreak in another nation which breathes cricket.
Given the way the teams had fared so far, there was no guarantee that had the match taken place, Ireland would have beaten the USA to keep Pakistan’s faint chances alive. The host nation had already proven their credentials with the upset of Pakistan and a fairly fighting defeat against India. In that sense, USA’s progress and Pakistan’s exit was not really a huge surprise.
But what it does to the equilibrium, popularity and commerce of cricket will have to be seen. Pakistan, everything said and done, is a major pillar of world cricket, however tiny that ecosystem might be. Their absence in the business stage of a global event will hit the financial aspects of the game. Cricket is consumed in Pakistan and people pay fortunes to sponsor and watch it.
Then again, this is perhaps a story of the past and present of the global scenario. Cricket needed the rise of a new nation to enhance its portfolio. The USA’s passage to the Super Eight of the T20 World Cup will undoubtedly create new markets. For the health of a game aspiring to go global, that is great news.
The other side of the story is it happened at the cost of a country which provided tremendous joy to cricket lovers for years and helped sustain the economy of the game. From that point of view, Lauderhill and rain possibly witnessed the rise of one and the demise of another. Whether this is good or bad for the future of the game, only time will tell.
In exclusive arrangement with RevSportz
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