India and West Indies to play two T20I matches in the USA
India is currently playing a four-match Test series against West Indies, which will be ending on August 22 at Trinidad. Almost immediately after the Test series gets over, India will be meeting West Indies T20 team in a two-match T20 series which will be held at Florida.
BCCI confirmed through a tweet that Team India will be playing the T20s on August 27 and 28 at Central Broward Regional Park in Florida. Central Broward Regional Park at Lauderhill is a $70 million facility which is currently scheduled to host the final group games of the ongoing Caribbean Premier League (CPL).
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Earlier, it was discussed that the Indian Test Team will be coming back to India on the scheduled date. The T20 and ODI captain of the Indian Team, MS Dhoni, will lead his team T20 team to Florida matches. It was reported earlier that the team selection will be based on the captain’s choice.
It is also expected that West Indies, who recently won the T20 World Cup 2016, will also fly out with a T20 specialised team.
BCCI who had earlier planned to organize a mini-IPL overseas have cancelled the plan and instead decided to organize the T20Is in Florida. This is the first time Indian Team will be playing on the American soil. It will also be a great opportunity for the Americans to watch two top T20 teams competing against each other.
This is not the first time a packed US baseball arena is going to watch Cricket superstars plying their trades. Last year, cricket fans in the US saw legends like Sachin Tendulkar and Shane Warne in New York, Los Angeles and Houston during an All Stars series while they were promoting the game in the region.
The Kiwis were seen playing against Sri Lanka in Central Broward Regional Park in a two-match series in 2010 which attracted a decent amount of spectators. The stadium will host the Indo-Windies T20 matches on the scheduled date from 7:30 PM IST.