Cricket News, Kohli-Babar's Popularity is Like Basketball Star LeBron James

Cricket News, Kohli-Babar's Popularity 

The basketball star LeBron James's meteoric rise in popularity, James's country, the United States, is going to organize the T20 World Cup jointly with the West Indies. With the first time an ICC tournament is going to be held in the US, the cricket market is sure to expand.

Liam Plunkett, who won the ODI World Cup for England, feels that the presence of stars like Virat Kohli and Babar Azam will play a big role in expanding the cricket market in the United States. According to Plunkett, Kohli-Babar's popularity is similar to that of LeBron James.

After that 'bareest of all margins' final at Lord's 2019 World Cup, he never got a place in the England team again. Plunkett migrated to the United States in 2020, much to the dismay of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) Read More Cricket News, IPL 1st Match Player Of The Match Mustaf..

His wife, Emelia Erb, is a US citizen and has the right to live there permanently. Plunkett has been closely associated with the country's cricket for the past four years. From that experience, he said, how much Kohli-Babar can affect US cricket.

"I told somebody, if Babar Azam and Virat Kohli were standing next to LeBron James, the line of cricketers would be just as long or no longer (of basketball stars)," Plunkett told AFP via video call from Philadelphia. Their (Kohli-Babar) greatness around the world is a lot.

The T20 World Cup will start on June 1. India-Pakistan will meet in New York on June 9. The demand for tickets for the match between the arch-rivals was 200 times higher than the capacity of the stadium, the ICC said last month. 

Now Plunkett also said that people are asking him for tickets, 'I know how difficult it is to get tickets (for the India-Pakistan match). People are still asking me for tickets. As if I am a ticket master or ticket-related person. Actually, I have nothing to do with it. I am sure, those who got the tickets, will sell them at high prices. People are trying to sell tickets for $1500, many are buying at that price. It seems crazy to me Read More Cricket News, whats say Navjot Singh Sidhu, Virat Kohli.

Regarding the global appeal of the India-Pakistan match and its significance, Plunkett also said that in a discussion with AFP, 'I have told the people of America that the audience is more interested in the India-Pakistan match than the Super Bowl. But they didn't believe me. This is just madness.'