The T20 World Cup was a milestone for cricket's global ambitions
T20 World Cup concluded with a classic thriller of a final, with India crowned champions on Saturday, but the tournament may also go down as a milestone for a game which is keen to expand its global footprint.
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With the decision to increase the size of the tournament to 20 teams and to play part of the group stage in the USA, the International Cricket Council (ICC) saw this World Cup as a vehicle for expansion of the sport's popularity.
More teams from emerging cricket nations were given a chance to perform on the global stage and Americans were offered the opportunity to engage with a sport far from their mainstream.
There were risks to such a strategy — the smaller associate nation teams needed to be competitive and not just cannon fodder and the very limited cricket facilities in the USA needed to be upgraded and in some cases created from scratch.
On both fronts, the tournament can be considered to have been a success, albeit a qualified one.
Certainly, the associate nations made their presence felt right from the opening game at Grand Prairie Stadium near Dallas where the USA beat Canada in a pulsating match.
It is hard to imagine any marketing and promotion campaign that could better the impact of the USA upsetting Pakistan, a result creating a completely new level of awareness of the sport in the country.
No-one who witnessed Nepal's effervescent
