Cricket T20 World Cup: India vs. Pakistan just one of the matches worth watching, fans say

The International Cricket Council Men’s T20 World Cup will bring a smorgasbord of cricket to Nassau County: roughly 24 hours of competition over eight matches, with hundreds of world-class players.

What are the key matches? What are the tactics?

Newsday spoke with half a dozen fans, coaches and a spokesman for USA Cricket, the sport’s governing body in the United States.

There was no disagreement about what to watch: India-Pakistan on June 9 is the marquee match, featuring two of the world’s top teams. It will probably sell out the 34,000-seat Nassau County International Cricket Stadium and draw hundreds of millions of television viewers.

“It’s a historic moment for us to watch cricket at this scale, and this is the most-anticipated game,” said Ahmad Chohan, an NYPD detective from East Meadow who is president of the department’s cricket team. “Because of the rivalry they have, it’s the most intense game. Whenever, wherever they play, it’s one of the most- watched games in the world.”

In other group stage matches at Nassau, India will play Ireland and the United States, and Pakistan will play Canada.

But Clarence Modeste, president of the Staten Island Cricket Club and a Queens Village resident, said it would be a mistake to sleep on the other matches. South Africa, for instance, will play three matches at Eisenhower Park. “All the World Cup players, the teams, have reached a certain level of excellence,” Modeste said. “They’re not second- or third-rate cricket matches, any of them.”

He expected heavy interest, if not an upset, in the June 12 India-U.S. match, the only one the United States will play here. India is a perennial tournament favorite, while the United States will be playing in its first T20 World Cup.

USA Cricket spokesman Manoj Kumar said it would be “a dream” to win that match or a June 6 match against Pakistan to be played in Dallas. “That would show the value of U.S. cricket, that we are ready to compete in this sport,” he said. (The United States will also play Ireland and Canada in the group stage.)

The United States, which is coming off recent wins over Canada and Bangladesh, could benefit from the short, offense-heavy T20 format, Kumar noted. “The game is so fast, anything can change at any minute, so the chances of a turnaround are greater.”

Parmanand Sarju, of Merrick, and Rudolph John, of Farmingdale, founders of the Long Island Youth Cricket Academy, which normally practices at Eisenhower Park, will be watching technique, starting with the bowler.

“The fast bowler — we call it express — might have a delivery of 150 kilometers per hour,” or 93 mph, John said. “But he’s not going to be at 150 consistently. The next one, he’ll bring it to you at 120, 130,” to disrupt the batter’s timing. And a spin bowler might throw nowhere near that hard. “He uses a wrist or a finger to angle it in or angle it away.”

When the ball bounces on delivery, it changes direction, making it difficult to hit cleanly. The batter, however, is not defenseless. Because the bat’s striking surface is flat, he can hit with great power and control, Sarju said.

“I coach for boys to hit the ball and keep it on the ground,” he said. “You do that all day and you’ll be the Derek Jeter of cricket.”

A well-struck ball, placed between fielders, may bounce over the field boundary, earning a safe four runs. A six — earned when the ball is hit over the boundary on the fly — is riskier. “You pop up, I guarantee a fielder is going to get it if that ball is not out of the park,” Sarju said.

But there are times when the batter hits for a six with maximum power, Sarju said. “If the ball is not coming in line to hit the wicket, the batters more or less go after that ball. If you’re going to hit it, you hit it hard.”

Ven Rajagopala, an IT professional from Huntington, said he would watch all the India matches, paying special attention to captain Rohit Sharma, “a class act,” and batter Virat Kohli. “He’s [Kohli] got aggression, consistency, everything … You throw him in anywhere in the world, and he’ll survive.”

Rajagopala plans to take in as much cricket as he can this June, he said, though “at some point you have to work for a living, unfortunately.”