Major League Cricket: Venky Harinarayan wants Indian players released for US tournament

One of the owners in the USA’s Major League Cricket has declared the sport will reach a new stratosphere if Indian players are released to be part of the tournament.

US powerbrokers have called on India to allow Virat Kohli to become the Lionel Messi of cricket in America and watch the game conquer its final frontier.

The BCCI bans all its players from taking part in franchise leagues outside the Indian Premier League, but San Francisco Unicorns owner Venky Harinarayan has called for an exception to be made for the two-and-a-half-week Major League Cricket tournament due to the massive boost cricket’s push into the United States would receive by having the biggest names in India there to sell it.

There are 450,000 Americans of Indian origin in the Bay Area of San Francisco and Oakland alone, while New York is home to an even greater number of expats from the subcontinent which gives cricket a legitimate market to target.

Virat Kohli with the 2024 T20 World Cup trophy.

Rohit Sharma heads from the field as the ‘Cricket Army USA’ watches on during the World Cup.

Overall there are an estimated 5 million Indians in America, while Pakistanis and Bangladeshis make up another million.

The profile of Argentinian football legend Messi in the US has resulted in an explosion of popularity for soccer and Harinarayan is adamant cricket could ride a similar wave of star power.

“There’s no two ways about it. If the Indian players show up here I’m pretty comfortable it’s a completely different ballgame. I just feel the product will just fly at that point,” Harinarayan said.

“There’s not a question in my mind.

Major League Cricket has attracted some of the world’s biggest stars to the USA to play cricket.

“If the ICC and BCCI feel that way and they feel, ‘Hey, the USA is the untapped market,’ then I do think unlocking Indian players and letting them play here is the investment you’re going to have to make to unlock it.

“Again it’s a function of whenever the BCCI decides that’s a direction they want to go down. I do think in the long term it’s the right thing for everyone to have Indian cricket players because I think it helps everybody (across the international game).

“We would be delighted obviously if that ever happens.”

Indian fans watch a game in New York during the T20 World Cup.

HARINARAYAN’S FIELD OF DREAMS

Harinarayan and his team at the Unicorns — which is Pat Cummins’ home in the MLC — have already made a huge step for cricket this year by striking a deal with the Oakland Coliseum to host matches.

The Coliseum is the 60,000-seat former home of the famous Oakland A’s Major League Baseball team, a club depicted by Brad Pitt in the Moneyball movie.

It is the only major stadium in the USA capable of hosting cricket because it used to host the Oakland Raiders of the NFL as well and is not a baseball diamond.

With similar dimensions to Auckland’s Eden Park, proper international cricket can be played at the venue.

Games were hosted this season at Oakland Coliseum, the former home of the Oakland As.

There are complications over the stadium’s future with a process underway for it to be sold to new owners.

However, pending the outcome of the sale, Harinarayan said the ICC should seriously think about making a late push for the Oakland Coliseum to be a host stadium for cricket at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

As it stands, Games organisers have booked cricket into a temporary pop-up facility.

But international rugby would offer a word of warning about playing out of small venues as Sevens rugby came across as small-fry on its debut at the Rio Olympics when it was played way out of town.

For the Paris Olympics, world rugby lobbied hard for Sevens to be played at the Stade de France and it made for a momentous spectacle.

The Oakland Coliseum – outside LA but still in California – offers cricket a similar opportunity to be staged at a proper, large-scale stadium rather than risk coming across as amateur hour at a ground with temporary grandstands and facilities.

Virat Kohli with the 2025 IPL trophy.

“Listen I can’t talk for them. But I do think, yes. I do think it would be a great (Olympics) venue,” Harinarayan said.

“At the same time I can sort of see where they’re coming from the organising committee. The ownership (of Oakland Coliseum) is still in transition so it’s not clear that you can plant a flag when so many things are moving.

“If there is more stability next year … I think it makes it more feasible.

“The temporary stadium stuff is not a great solution because this country is starved for cricket infrastructure

“Our biggest challenge is actually having the stadiums because as you know the dimensions for cricket are so different than for every other sport.

“There are a lot of balls up in the air. Obviously that (finding cricket a more permanent home at Oakland Coliseum) would be something that we are very interested in.

“We are having those conversations but I would say it is early at this point. It’s definitely something we’re pushing on. I don’t know where it ends up.”

Originally published as Major League Cricket: Venky Harinarayan wants Indian players released for US tournament