Sri Lankan cricket fans in North America will have a rare treat in July to glimpse a modern great along with other top international cricketers as the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) will play matches in Lauderhill, Florida.
Sangakkara will be joined by teammates Chris Gayle, Kumar Sangakkara, Shakib Al Hasan, Andre Russell, Imad Wasim, Dale Steyn when he bats for Jamaica Tallawahs.
“I think it’s great. On the back of what’s happened in the last year and a half in the promotion of cricket in the United States, there’s a great opportunity to actually hammer that point through. I think the message should be a constant one to America as to what cricket is,” Sangakkara said.
“There’s a huge ex-pat community in America who already knows about the sport that came to watch the (Sachin) Tendulkar and (Shane) Warne series that we played last year. I played in Florida before in 2010 against New Zealand. But just to get more and more people come and watch, to understand the sport and actually try to foster some kind of following and love for cricket will probably afford us the opportunity to break into America and really help cricket establish its strong roots there to be embraced by the general population. Let’s hope that this is another step in that direction.”
Sangakkara is no stranger to cricket in America, he captained Sri Lanka when they played the first major international series in the United States in 2010 against New Zealand.
He was named player of the series for batting during an All-Star series captained by Shane Warne and Sachin Tendulkar in New York, Houston and Los Angeles last year.
