Can the US audience now adapt to 90-minute cricket in US Masters T10 League 2023?
US Masters T10 League will kick off on August 18 in Lauderhill. Six teams, namely Atlanta Riders, Texas Chargers, New Jersey Triton's, California Knights, New York Warriors and Morrisville Unity will compete in the inaugural edition of this T10 competition.
Known to be 'cricket's fastest format' T10 League has now reached in the United States of America. This tournament is also a part of the cricket organizers' attempts to break into the United States.
USA is one of the biggest markets in the world for any sport, and if cricket becomes a big sport in the United States, it will help everyone involved financially. Earlier this year, Major League Cricket's inaugural edition happened in the US, where Mumbai Indians' sister franchise MI New York won the championship.
Kolkata Knight Riders and Chennai Super Kings team owners also bought a franchise in the MLC. The two teams' names were Los Angeles Knight Riders and Texas Super Kings.
Besides, ICC has also allotted the hosting rights of T20 World Cup 2024 to West Indies and USA. US Masters T10 League will help in increasing awareness cricket rules in the United States ahead of the mega event. Here's a look at the probability of whether the US audience will be able to adjust itself to 90-minute cricket.
Shorter duration may help in attracting more USA fans towards cricket in US Masters T10 League
Attention span of an individual has reduced significantly with the growth of techonology. It is rare to see fans watching entire five-day Test matches in cricket now. Even the ODI format's viewership numbers have been on a declining trend.
While the T20 format generally secures higher audience than Tests and ODIs, it still takes three hours for a T20 match to complete. The T10 matches take only 90 minutes, which is equivalent to a football match.
T10 games are all about big-hitting, smart bowling and splendid fielding. It will offer a lot more attractions to the fans in a short amount of time. Hence, there is a possibility that this format attracts more USA fans towards the sport of cricket.
Several legends of cricket will participate in US Masters T10 League 2023
In case you didn't know, several retired cricketers from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, South Africa, West Indies, New Zealand, Ireland, England and Australia will participate in US Masters T10 League 2023.
India's 2011 World Cup heroes Suresh Raina (California Knights), Yusuf Pathan and Gautam Gambhir (New Jersey Triton), Sreesanth (Atlanta Riders), Harbhajan Singh (Morrisville Unity) and Munaf Patel (New York Warriors) will play in the tournament.
Apart from that, the competition also features Shahid Afridi, Chris Gayle, Irfan Pathan, Albie Morkel, Jacques Kallis, David Hussey, Robin Uthappa, Dwayne Smith, Kevin O'Brien, Parthiv Patel, Corey Anderson, Liam Plunkett, Mohammad Hafeez, Ross Taylor and Chamara Kapugedara.
With so many big names participating, this league should attract the attention of Indian and Pakistan origin people living in the United States. It should not be a surprise if the matches in Lauderhill receive packed houses at the Central Broward Stadium.