New Delhi/Lauderhill: The official Indian cricket team is set to play its first-ever international series in the U.S. this weekend. Cricket enthusiasts from all over the U.S. are traveling to Lauderhill to watch the historic series, and the tickets for the two matches have already been fully sold out. The matches will begin on Saturday and Sunday at 10:00am EDT/ 7:30pm IST.
The Twenty20 international series against defending T20 champions West Indies will be played at Central Broward Regional Park Stadium, which is the US’s only venue officially certified by the International Cricket Council (ICC) to host One Day Internationals (ODIs). The 110-acre multipurpose facility features a 560-feet diameter stadium with a 20,000 seating capacity.
Says Lt Anurag Thakur, President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), “History repeats itself! It is a great coincidence that the audience strength for the first ever international matches being played by Team India in the U.S. is the same as the turnout for America’s cricket match with Canada in 1844, the first international sporting event of the modern world. Our fans are our biggest strength and with an aim to ensure that the game of cricket reaches them, this step has been undertaken. With the overwhelming response received so far on tickets, I am certain that this initiative will be well received by a large number of existing fans and cultivate a potential fan base.”
The Indian Cricket Team’s contingent for the two T20 International matches comprises of Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, K. L. Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Amit Mishra and Stuart Binny.
The West Indies squad comprises of Andre Fletcher, Andre Russell, Carlos Brathwaite (captain), Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo, Evin Lewis, Jason Holder, Johnson Charles, Kieron Pollard, Lendl Simmons, Marlon Samuels, Samuel Badree, Sunil Narine.
