New Delhi: Next month’s T20 World Cup will help build cricket’s profile and popularity in the United States ahead of its appearance at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, the sport’s world body said.

The showpiece 20-over event will be co-hosted by the West Indies and the United States in June with New York, Florida and Dallas as venues.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) said it was confident the tournament would help the sport leave a mark in a land where baseball rules.

“The fact that a World Cup has come to the US — the largest sports market in the world — that in itself has generated a lot of interest,” Chris Tetley, the ICC’s head of events, told reporters in a media roundtable on Tuesday.

“This is a key stepping stone for the promotion of the game toward 2028 and beyond in terms of providing world-class cricket for the massive existing fanbase that the sport already has in the US,” he added.

“We are trying to give them something they haven’t had on their doorstep before and maybe pique the interest of the American sports community by telling them that cricket’s actually an older sport in the US than baseball.”

T20 cricket will feature as one of five new sports at the Los Angeles Olympics.

Cricket’s only previous appearance at an Olympics was in 1900 in Paris, where a team from Great Britain defeated France.

Nassau County’s Eisenhower Park, near New York, has seen a 34,000-seater temporary stadium, with a drop-in cricket pitch, constructed.

It will host the hotly-anticipated India-Pakistan clash on June 9 among its eight scheduled World Cup games.

“We are really happy with the pitch,” said stadium manager Damian Hough.

“Everything that we have done has exceeded expectations. I can’t predict scores, that’s for the batters.

“We hope that we have got a typical T20 pitch where there is good bounce, good pace and value for shots. Obviously you want batters to play shots all around the ground.”

Hough and his team introduced drop-in pitches more than a decade ago at Adelaide Oval, where he is head curator.

But creating the stadium in Nassau County has seen different challenges, including growing the pitch in the sub-tropics of Florida before transporting it 2,000 kilometers (1,250 miles) north through multiple climatic zones.

Tetley said the stadium would be dismantled after the T20 extravaganza, but the “world-class facilities” would leave a lasting legacy for cricket in the United States.

JEDDAH: Al-Hilal coach Jorge Jesus has revealed his delight at his team’s 2-1 win over Al-Ittihad in the semifinals of the King’s Cup on Tuesday night, with particular praise for the “extraordinary” match-winner Saud Abdelhamid.

Brazilian forward Michael had given Al-Hilal the lead in the 25th minute at King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in Jeddah before Serbian teammate Sergej Milinkovic-Savic was sent off three minutes before half time.

Morocco international Abderrazak Hamdallah equalized for the reigning Saudi Pro League champions after 67 minutes, before Abdulhamid scored in the 81st minute to take his team to the King’s Cup final on May 31. They will meet the winners of Wednesday’s second semifinal between Al-Nassr and Al-Khaleej.

“Saud Abdulhamid is extraordinary. In the 90th minute he is still going at full speed,” said Jesus. “He can always improve, and I expect the best from him. Saudi players in general are open to developing tactically.”

He added: “We fought for more than 60 minutes (with the one-man) deficiency, and after conceding the equalizer we were better in transitions and controlled the match.”

The Portuguese coach has set his sights on completing a hat trick of triumphs this season.

“We have three championships this season,” Jesus added. “The league is close, we already achieved the (Saudi) Super Cup, and now we have reached the (King’s) cup final. This is a wonderful thing, and we are continuing to achieve our goals.”

He added that excluding Salman Al-Faraj from the starting lineup had been a “tactical” decision.