West Indies legend and one of the most renowned players in white-ball cricket, Chris Gayle along with the USA’s Ali Khan lit up New York’s Empire State Building to launch the Trophy Tour for the upcoming ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024.

The Global Trophy Tour will visit 15 countries, including all nine host venues in the countdown to the historic ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 hosted in the West Indies and USA.

ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 Trophy Tour started Mar 18 with two-time champion Chris Gayle and USA’s Ali Khan lighting up the iconic skyscraper as fans countdown to the tournament.

An official ceremony to launch the Trophy Tour was held at the Empire State Building, where Gayle and Khan pulled the lever down to light up New York’s iconic building in the navy and pink colours of the event.

Sitting atop the 381-metre skyscraper was the prize all 20 teams will be competing for across the West Indies and USA from June 1 to 29, the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Trophy, the ICC informed in a release today.

Following the huge demand of more than 3 mn ticket applications in the public ballot, additional tickets have been released to 51 of 55 matches, including to fixtures where allocations were previously exhausted.

The event marks the first time an ICC World Cup will be held in the USA, including eight matches at the new 34,000-capacity stadium in Nassau County, New York.

The newly renovated existing venues, Grand Prairie Cricket Stadium in Dallas and Broward County Stadium in Lauderhill will each host four fixtures.

West Indies will co-host at popular Caribbean tourist destinations, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Guyana, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, and the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago all hosting matches.

ICC T20 WC’s trophy tour schedule

The ‘Out of this World’ Trophy Tour will reach 15 countries across four continents as it visits iconic sporting teams and stadia, famous landmarks, and legendary cricketers, while also giving fans the chance to get a glimpse of the ultimate prize.

In addition to visiting all host venues across the West Indies and USA, the Trophy will also visit emerging Americas cricket countries Argentina, Brazil and Canada - enabling new fans to connect with what will be a landmark event in the region.

ICC general manager, marketing and communications, Claire Furlong said: “As we countdown to the World Cup, the trophy tour provides fans with the opportunity to be part of the event in locations across the globe.”

“Cricket has more than a billion fans and we want to give as many people as possible the opportunity to get up close with the trophy that will be lifted by the winning captain in Barbados on June 29,” Furlong added.

The trophy tour schedule is:

Mar 18 to 20 - New York

Mar 21 to 23 - Houston, Grand Prairie and Dallas

Mar 26 to 27 - Buenos Aires

Mar 28 to 29 -  Sao Paulo

Apr 3 to 4 - Jamaica

Apr 13 to 14 - Barbados

Apr 17 to 18 - Antigua and Barbuda

Apr 19 to 20 - Saint Lucia

(Source: IANS)

- Edited for style

Also read:

ICC announces T20 World Cup schedule; Indo-Pak clash in New York on June 9