“Coming to America”, the posters scream in bold, all capitalised, but there is no Eddie Murphy dressed in his regal accoutrements and staring back at you.
There is the “I love NY” round badge though, with a red heart in the middle, just like the original posters of the 1988 American romantic comedy, and then there are two gentlemen smiling back at you, dressed a lot more modestly than Murphy in the original billboards of the movie.
They are not wearing their crowns either, but the two – India’s Sachin Tendulkar and Australian Shane Warne – are royalty all right, at least in the nations where cricket is a bit more than a mere sport.
And now, the two have decided to take the sport back to where cricket’s first international match was played – between the United States and Canada in 1844 in New York’s St George’s Cricket Club.
The three-day match was watched by around 20,000 spectators and Canada emerged winners in the end, by 23 runs.
Tendulkar, Warne and their travelling all-stars could easily surpass that figure at the turnstiles in the opening game of their American tour, which will be played at the New York Mets’ home baseball park, the 45,000-plus capacity Citi Field, in the borough of Queens, on November 7.
Four days later, the all-stars will take the pitch at another baseball park, this time in Texas at the Houston Astros’ 41,500-seating stadium.
The troupe will then head to Los Angeles for their final stop. On November 14, the teams will play their third and final match of the tour at the Los Angeles Dodgers’ home park.
The idea for the promotional posters is Tendulkar’s and he is excited talking about it.
“There was a photograph, back from 2000, where I am telling Warne about the bounce or the height. My hand is like this,” he said, holding his right hand in a sign position that is also associated with flights, as he talked about the posters.
“Looking at that photograph, it just clicked ... planes. I thought why don’t we say that, ‘We are coming to America’. Then I said, Eddie Murphy’s movie, Coming to America. So we just did that.”
Less than a month from making that trip, Tendulkar talks excitedly about this visit to the “Land of Dreams”, alongside the other 27 greats, hoping to help cricket pursue one of its biggest dreams – of finding a foothold in the United States.
“We plan to do community clinics in a bid to get children involved, coach them, make them understand what cricket is all about,” said Tendulkar, who was in Dubai on Friday, along with retired Pakistan cricketer Wasim Akram, for a celebrity talk show event, “Cricket and Beyond — Join the Conversation”.
“Our job will be to encourage the kids to pick up a cricket bat along with a baseball bat, and see how it feels,” Tendulkar added. “And then who knows what might happen.
“We have been asked often about the challenge of bringing Americans into the stadium. My friends, who went to the USA in the 1990s to study and a few of them settled there, they had no idea about baseball or basketball, but their Americans friends dragged them to the stadiums and said, ‘No, you have to come and sit with us’.
“Now it’s time to reciprocate and bring them inside the stadiums to watch cricket.”
The all-stars is a brainchild of Tendulkar and Warne, and the idea first took roots when they led opposing teams out in July last year for an exhibition match to celebrate the bicentenary of Lord’s, the “Home of Cricket”.
“Generally speaking, we all had an amazing time playing that match and I realised one thing: even though we are all retired cricketers, the passion is very much alive,” Tendulkar said.
“So I thought why not put that to use and do something further as far as globalising cricket is concerned. Why not start something with all the retired cricketers.
“The retired players can do a lot of things that the current players cannot because they got to be training with the team, planning and all sorts of things. All that doesn’t allow a current player to do the things we are planning to do.
“So I got in touch with Warne. He was also thinking along the same lines. He said why not do this together? And then we got in touch with the ICC and we told them everything, what our plans are. The ICC likes our plans and said we are backing you guys.
“I think it is a great thing for spectators because we are planning to go to different parts of the world where people don’t get to witness live cricket action. They cannot go to stadiums and appreciate being in that moment.
“Take this USA tour. The baseball parks are differently shaped fields, which means a player could be fielding literally five feet away from you at fine leg or third man.
“So there is an opportunity to have a word with the player and he might respond, and those are special moments for spectators.”
The United States, of course, is only the first stop for the all-stars. They want to be globe trotting like basketball’s Harlem and taking the sport to different audiences and the UAE is also on Tendulkar’s radars.
“We are all excited to go to America and beyond that, also go to different parts of the world,” Tendulkar said.
“We would also love to come here if we get invited. The headquarters of the ICC is here, so all the more reason to come and play here.”
arizvi@thenational.ae
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