CHENNAI : On Thursday, Ali Khan won one of the game’s many mini-battles. Up against Fakhar Zaman, a natural stroke-maker and someone who hits most bowling types, Khan knew this was a battle he started second favourite in. But he nipped him out, the southpaw’s paddle failing to clear the man at fine-leg. US had the opening and they drove a car through it.
How Khan got to this stage — deciding games for his adopted country — in one of the sport’s biggest stages is the story of a fair few others who came and tried before him. In the sparsely populated town of Centerville, Ohio, some 14 years ago, Khan, still a teen then, had just moved from Pakistan. The tape ball expert, according to the Guardian, sent down a few spicy deliveries. Word of Khan’s expertise spread throughout the midwest.
He played pick-up games whenever his day job, mobile phone sales representative, gave him the time. “He,” the guardian noted, “was spotted by Courtney Walsh in 2015 and won a spot with the Guyana Amazon Warriors in the Caribbean Premier League.” From there, he did the hard yards. He was even picked by Kolkata in the IPL thus becoming the first American international to be picked in the league.
On Thursday, the yorker specialist had a new career highlight. Khan moved with his parents. Others moved for studies. Some came for the money. All of them came together to live a dream they first thought of in the country of their birth.
In the US, they fused together their impossible dream.
The cricketing community continues to be divided on both the short and long-term effects of the proliferation of T20 cricket. It has not only expanded the calendar but it has also shrinked international cricket. The relevance of the 50-over game, outside the World Cup, is up in the air and a fair few players have been forced to pick one or the other.
However, the proliferation of the game’s shortest format has done US cricket a world of good. At last count, the US is home to as many as nine leagues run on the franchise model. While Major League Cricket is the most popular, the Minor League Cricket, Unity Cup, US Open, Houston Open, US Masters T10 among other events has given them invaluable amount of experience in a short time. The availability of these many competitions in their own backyard has allowed players to level up without being at the mercy of catching the attention of franchise teams in other parts of the globe.
An example. In last year’s Major League Cricket final between Seattle Orcas and MI New York, Harmeet Singh, Steven Taylor, Nosthush Kenjige and Jasdeep Singh all featured. They played with the likes of Nicholas Pooran, Quinton de Kock and Trent Boult. All four were part of the US’ first team against Pakistan.
Aaron Jones, who hit that thrilling, unbeaten 94 against Canada on opening night, was part of the Orcas’ team in the inaugural edition of the MLC. While he couldn’t land himself a gig in this year’s edition, he should be snapped up in the second draft in less than 10 days’ time. If the likes of Khan, Kenjige and Harmeet have a natural affinity towards the game, the likes of Taylor and Jones are the other side of the story. Kids born to non-Indian parents in the US and who picked the game despite the other options. If cricket is to make a long-term impact in the continent, there should be more Taylors and Jones’ knocking on the door sooner rather than later (Taylor, in fact, is the first homegrown player in this team).
Even as late as 2020, the US team didn’t have a passable floor. Now? They have a floor and a rising ceiling. The win against Pakistan is a Cupset but it cannot be viewed in isolation. A few weeks ago, they rolled Bangladesh 2-1 in a three-match series.
On opening night in Dallas, a sort of spiritual home for cricket in the US, a near capacity crowd, some of them locals, saw their team get over the line against Canada. In the crowd, a fair few came in with a cool cricket merchandise. On the front of the shirt was Abe Lincoln with the words ‘Score Four’. It was a call back to Lincoln’s famous Gettysburg Address (he begun his speech with ‘score four...’ It may have counted for nought as a violent thrashed the town, pulled down an LED screen and left the Grand Prairie ground in a state of some disrepair.
A week later, though, that will just be a footnote. Played two, won two and top of the standings in a group consisting of India and Pakistan. If all goes well from hereon in, Saurabh Netravalkar, who delivered that ice-cool Super Over against the latter, will be applying for a leave extension at Oracle as the Super 8s will beckon.