Former West Indies star Chris Gayle hopes the T20 World Cup will help cricket crack the lucrative American sports market and lift the game onto a new global level.
The Twenty20 showpiece, which starts on June 1, is being jointly hosted by the United States and Gayle's native West Indies, where big crowds are expected.
But it will be the first major international cricket tournament staged in the United States, with a sellout crowd expected for the clash between archrivals India and Pakistan at a temporary 34,000-seat venue in Long Island, New York.