T20 World Cup 2024 Opening Ceremony: Time In IST, Performances, Live Streaming

The T20 World Cup 2024 is set to begin on June 01, with hosts USA taking on Canada in the opening match of the campaign in Texas. In what seems to be a rather strange decision taken by the authorities, the cricket world will witness a grand opening ceremony of the campaign before the second match of the season in Guyana, and not the first. The curtain-raiser event has been scheduled to take place before the West Indies vs Papua New Guinea match at the T20 World Cup, on June 02.

It's the first time that a cricket World Cup, though partially, is being held on US soil. India talisman Virat Kohli, who landed in New York on Friday evening (Indian time), admitted that he had never imagined to be playing cricket in the USA at some point in his career.

"Honestly I never thought we would be playing cricket in any form in the states (USA), but now it's a reality," Kohli said in a video shared by US Consulate Mumbai on X (formerly Twitter).

"That tells you about the growing impact of the sport in the world and the United States is more than willing to accept the change and be probably the first ones on a global scale to accept it, in a way, with the World Cup," he said, before his departure from India to link up with his national team-mates in New York.

Terming it as a 'great start', Kohli hoped that the T20 World Cup in the Americas will set off a domino effect as the game's governing body ICC aims to promote and expand cricket in other parts of the world.

"It's a great start. It's the ideal way to begin and it's going to have a huge impact. In starting off, a kind of a domino effect and I hope it carries on for a long period of time," he said.

Though Kohl's India will have to wait until June 05 to begin their campaign, the