Washington, 26 Jun: The USA\u2019s stunning win over powerhouse Pakistan in the ongoing T20 World Cup has given cricket a solid foothold in the country, reckoned Eric Garcetti, US Ambassador to India,
\nThe co-hosts shocked former champions Pakistan via Super Over in a Group A league match of the ICC showpiece on June 6 at Dallas.
\nConsequently, the Babar Azam-led side bowed out of the event without entering the Super Eights.
\n\u201cCricket is a religion, as we often say in India. I think it is a great sport that is only just beginning to take off here in America.
\n\u201cBut given the number of Indians, South Asians, Australians, Kiwis, South Africans, Brits that live in America or are immigrants to America, it already has an amazing base,\u201d Garcetti told PTI in an interview.
\n\u201cI can’t wait to see it take off and one day be one of the great sports of America,\u201d he added.
\nGarcetti said he has now become a cricket fan. \u201cI have become a cricket nut, as everybody knows. I love cricket. I think more and more Americans are learning to love a game that, you know, we played 150 years ago,\u201d he said.
\nGarcetti hailed the entry of the USA into the Super Eights as a landmark moment.
\n\u201cI can’t believe we upset Pakistan. We beat Bangladesh before the World Cup started, and that we came close to beating India. I say close, because as a US ambassador to India, it’s the perfect outcome.
\n\u201cWe came close, but the Indians aren’t upset with me that we beat you. We advanced to the next round,\u201d he said.
\nGarcetti said getting cricket featured in the Los Angeles Olympics 2028 was an important step.
\n\u201cWhen I helped put cricket into the Olympics here in America for 2028, I did that almost as much as a gift to India as it was to the rest of the cricket-loving world.
\n\u201cI know how important it is to the Indian fan, to the Indian soul,\u201d Garcetti said. (PTI)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Washington, 26 Jun: The USA\u2019s stunning win over powerhouse Pakistan in the ongoing T20 World Cup has given cricket a solid foothold in the country, reckoned Eric Garcetti, US Ambassador to India, The co-hosts shocked former champions Pakistan via Super Over in a Group A league match of the ICC showpiece on June 6 at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-243018","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243018","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243018"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243018\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243018"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243018"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}