USA Might Host Pakistan, Indian Premier League [IPL] Cricket Matches

The Pakistan Cricket Board and Indian Premier League plan to have matches in the U.S. as early as this year.

Pakistan and USA Cricket Association officials said they have discussed organizing a series in the U.S. featuring Pakistan’s World Twenty20 championship team. The discussions took place at an International Cricket Council meeting this week in Dubai.

“While the two boards are still finalizing the dates and the types of match competitions, assurances were made by both parties that a long-term agreement to play in the U.S. will begin with a match series later in 2010,” the governing bodies said in a joint statement yesterday.

Pakistan has been forced to play home series in neutral countries in recent years. Security concerns prevent international teams from touring the Asian nation, which faces suicide bombings and a Taliban insurgency.

The ICC stripped Pakistan of the right to host some 2011 World Cup matches after a terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team in Lahore 11 months ago left eight people dead and five Sri Lanka players and a coach injured. The sport’s governing body also moved last year’s Champions Trophy competition from the country to South Africa because of safety concerns.

Pakistan’s last “home” series on foreign soil was against New Zealand in the United Arab Emirates in November. The team is scheduled to play two Tests and two Twenty20 matches against Australia in England in July.

‘Grow the sport’

By taking international matches into the American market, the Pakistan Cricket Board is seeking to attract new fans as well as tapping interest from Pakistanis and Indians living in the U.S., where the sport mainly is played by immigrants.

“Pakistan playing as a full member in the USA is in line with the ICC policy to grow the sport in countries such as the United States,” PCB Chairman Ijaz Butt said in the statement.

Top officials from the Indian Premier League, cricket’s richest competition, met with USA Cricket Chief Executive Officer Donald Lockerbie in Dubai to discuss staging Twenty20 matches in the U.S. as early as 2011.

Giving leading U.S. cricketers the opportunity to play in the eight-team league also was examined. The two parties said they will work on a master plan to take the IPL to the U.S. and will form a working group in May.

“The North American continent has emerged as the second- largest market in terms of revenue and viewership for Indian cricket,” IPL Chairman Lalit Modi said in a statement. “We are confident of taking the IPL to the U.S. in the near future.”

Twenty20, the sport’s shortest format, might represent cricket’s best chance of winning over fans in the U.S., according to U.S. national team captain Steve Massiah.

While elite Test matches can last as long as five days and one-day internationals take about eight hours, Twenty20 games typically are completed in about 3 1/2 hours and feature more big hitting from batsmen.

“Americans like fast-paced games,” Massiah, a 30-year-old Guyana native, said yesterday in a telephone interview.