Stadium expected to be sold out.
The Indian team is in Florida for its two back to back Twenty20 international matches against the West Indies this weekend, which would mark only the third time international matches would be played place in the U.S., following the West Indies’ matches against New Zealand and Sri Lanka in 2010 and against New Zealand again two years later.
India and the West Indies will play two T20 international matches on August 27 and 28, at the Central Broward Regional Park, Florida.
The match is an initiative by the Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI) with support of West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) to popularize the sport in non-cricketing nations, said reports.
In Florida, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shikhar Dhawan and Bhuvneshwar Kumar chose to visit the home of Miami Heats basketball team. The latest recruit of the Miami Heats – Tyler Johnson and Briante Weber hosted the Indian trio at their home ground – ‘The American Airlines Arena’.
“It was great to see these guys and learn about their game. I was impressed with the facilities here and it was a learning experience for me to see the amount of technology being used in sports science”, said Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, reported Real Time News.
Cricbuzz reported The Cricket All-Star Series of November 2015, conceived by Shane Warne and Sachin Tendulkar, attracted a total audience of 66,000 fans. Held at three venues, New York’s Citi Field, Houston’s Minute Maid Park and Los Angeles’ Dodger Stadium, boisterous, cricket-starved crowds loudly cheered “Warne’s Warriors” and “Sachin’s Blasters.” This is yet another occasion for the fans in the US to savor top notch cricket.
The Central Broward Regional Park and Stadium in Lauderhill, Florida is the lone ICC-certified cricket ground in America. Opening its doors in November 2007, it is capable of seating 20,000 persons. In May 2010, it hosted two Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is) between Sri Lanka and New Zealand. The West Indies played two T20Is – June 30 and July 1, 2012. And earlier this year the aforementioned six CPL matches were contested there.
In India, the matches would be telecast live by Star Sports 1, Star Sports 3, Star Sports HD1 and Star Sports HD3. In the USA, Canada and the Caribbean, Yupp TV has the rights.