Seattle Orkas finished run-up in the first season of Major League cricket and sixth in the second season. (Image: X/Seattalorcas)

New Delhi: Hemant Dua, CEO of Seattle orcas, believes that the USA victory over Pakistan in the 2024 T20 World Cup has played an important role in helping cricket get its first leg in the door. This victory helped USA cricket take an important initial step towards achieving a goal, in a large picture, making the game popular in a country where it is in unwanted region.“Cricket has increased overall. It was always on strips here for a very long time, but it was more at the amateur level in the United States. The Cricket Board has passed through a lot of challenges. I think late, the ICC started investing in it and to see which frontier they want to win.”“The 2024 World Cup came, it was really well done and had a huge impact from an economic point of view. It certainly helped Cricket because beating USA Pakistan was true for the United States people like a dream; it helped in the growth of cricket,” he said.Dua says that Major League Cricket (MLC) successfully entered its third season, the next goal is to bring cricket to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) so that the game is in the mainstream.“Broadly, cricket is played by South Asian people and is a small part of the Commonwealth population like English, South African and all of them. It has not really gone to the mainstream yet, and remains a challenge: how you make it a growing mainstream game, especially focused on youth and colleges,” he said.“In the US, unlike other parts of the world, if you are not part of the college system, the game does not actually grow. You know, because the college game is the basis of growth here for everything, okay? So that all the games grow like sports. Once you become part of NCAA, you grow automatically;“Ideally, this must be the next step, but it is a combination where everyone will have to come on the same platform. When I say all, I mean USA Cricket, MLC, Minor League cricket, all have to come on the same platform, and one of the biggest challenges to be part of college game is IX. Title IX means that you have to play women’s equivalent or in one way or the other, right? Without women’s sports, you do not get recognition.“In my area, which is Prashant Northwest, there are girls who play regularly, so we are trying to grow. I mean, there are different leagues that have come to the level of U-19 and U-16 for both boys and girls. The boys’ game is growing, but it’s a low number, “he said.With Cricket finding a place in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, Dua hopes that most of the MLC franchise will have their own cricket stadium, and it will take cricket to the next level.“Now what will be a big impact when all six teams will have their own stadium ready. It is part of the contract with MLC that each team will build their stadium by 2028. With the Olympics in 2028, there is going to be some noise where people will know more about the game, “he said.For the expansion of cricket in the United States, the franchisees are also banking on targeting the Indian population.“If you look at the population, around 20 million South Asians live in the United States. This is a very important number. Indians have the most net worth of individuals. The USA is much higher than the Indian income group than the average income group, so there is the ability to spend. So can we tap on it, can we tap in that dream? He said.Dayu, who was part of the Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capital) for ten years since the establishment of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2008, admitted that all six franchises are currently harming, but they believe that MLC is durable in a big plan as a product.He said, “Now everyone in MLC is doing harm. Even in IPL, for 10 years, everyone did not come to the floor till the 11th year broadcast contract,” he said.