Lauderhill mayor says hosting an India-Pakistan series at Florida is the top request that he has received

The two-match T20I series between India and West Indies didn’t have the greatest of finishes with the Men In Blue batting just two overs in pursuit of the 246 set for them by the men from the Caribbean islands, thanks to the downpour at the start of the second session that eventually led to the abandonment of the match.

However, there is little dispute over the fact that the two games over the weekend in Lauderhill, Florida certainly captivated the audience which had turned up to watch proceedings and particularly on Saturday, they had their money’s worth with a total of 489 runs scored in total by both teams.

The response does augur well for the future of the game in the country and speaking about that, the mayor of Lauderhill Richard Kaplan has said that he would like to see 3-4 matches being played over there every year and added that among his primary request is to stage an India-Pakistan fixture at the venue.

“I would like to see at least three to four international games conducted per year here. Of course, it depends on the timing, because we don’t want to host games during the hurricane season and essentially ICC has to sanction and approve it. The number one request I’m getting is to organise India-Pakistan matches and I hope the authorities take heed and host a series between these two nations. I’m sure that will bring packed crowds and there won’t be any lack of entertainment,” Kaplan told Wisden India prior to the opening T20I.

Speaking about the response he received from the BCCI about the facilities on view at Florida, the mayor said everybody has had only positive things to say about the ground and even complimented the food that was available at the Indian restaurant.

“They are extraordinarily happy other than they did not win the game today. They said it was a great event, great turnout – I have heard nothing negative so far. They were even happy about the Indian restaurant that served the food and they felt the food was terrific too. So we are very happy and there is no doubt that there is scope to conduct mores games and this ground is what I would like to call it the field of dreams, like the movie for the baseball field,” he added.

While the outing proved to be a successful venture for all, there were still areas of the stadium that required work and Kaplan felt that developing the media centre is among the top priorities.

“The facility was built for the World Cup. We could expand the facility to hold up to 30,000 people. No one ever asked us to fill that capacity. This series was the highest requested amounting to 15-20,000 people. We did not go high here on those temporary bleachers for this series, but we could. The VIP tents took up a lot of space, which amounted to a lot of revenues. I spoke to the manager of the facility and he said he is going to put out money for improvement of the facility. Now that we are showing that there is some global interest and as long as we get these games sanctioned here it will happen. It’s our money we invest. CPL had media housed inside the clubhouse but BCCI wanted the clubhouse for VVIP’s. I’m sure a proper media facility would be the first thing they would want to address when the expansion planning starts,” he said.