Indian PM Narendra Modi speaks about growing popularity of cricket in USA

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently spoke about the growing popularity of cricket in the USA. He also mentioned the ongoing World Cup qualifiers in Zimbabwe where the USA are also participating and gave his best wishes to the team. Notably, Americans usually follow or play Baseball. However, the game of cricket is also gaining popularity in the country.

The Indian PM made the comments while addressing the State Dinner hosted in his honour by the US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden on the North Lawn of the White House. Along with Modo, over 400 guests were invited for the dinner including big names like, India’s billionaire industrialists Mukesh Ambani and Anand Mahindra as well as Google CEO Sunder Pichai, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Apple CEO Tim Cook.

During his address, Modi raised a toast with the hosts, for good health, prosperity and the pursuit of happiness as well as the strong bond between India and the USA. He then mentioned the popularity of cricket in the country and how USA is trying hard to qualify for the upcoming ODI World Cup in India.

“Americans love baseball, but cricket is also becoming popular in the US. The American team is trying its best to qualify for the Cricket World Cup to be held in India later this year. I wish them good luck and success,” the Indian PM was quoted as saying by Sportskeeda.

USA in 2023 World Cup qualifiers

Notably, the United States have been placed in Group A in the ongoing World Cup qualifiers. However, they didn’t had a great outing in the tournament as they lost three out of three matches so far. They started their with 39-run loss to West Indies. After that, they lost to Nepal by six wickets and the Netherlands by five wickets. USA will now face the hosts Zimbabwe in their last group match on June 26th.

Meanwhile, USA are also set to host Major League Cricket (MLC) T20 competition from July 13 to 30. Subsequently, they are also hosting the 20-20 World Cup in 2024 along with West Indies. This also means that the USA are automatically qualified for the 2024 20-20 World Cup being the host nation.