In every major tournament, ICC nominates Brand Ambassadors who are well known players for their stand out performances over the years in the game of Cricket all around the globe. In this T20 World Cup 2024, ICC have announced 4 Brand Ambassadors for this mega event, and surprisingly one of them is not famous for Cricket rather he is Jamaican Sprint Legend “Usain Bolt”. Others on the list are Chris Gayle, Yuvraj Sing and Shahid Afridi.
Here is Profile of these Players:
Usain Bolt:
The Jamaican Sprint sensation “Usain Bolt” who is 8-time Olympic Gold medal winner has been awarded with Brand Ambassadorship by ICC. He has also featured in the T20 World Cup 2024 Anthem Song. As he truly deserves this honour due to his Champion runs’ career, ICC want to increase the reach of the mega event through Bolt’s fan connections.
Usain Bolt now holds world records in the 100m, 200m, and 4x100m events, with times of 9.58 seconds, 19.19 seconds, and 36.84 seconds. His first world record came in the 100m in 2008, when he ran 9.72 seconds in New York. He cut it to 9.69 seconds at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, then to 9.58 seconds at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin. He has the three quickest times ever run: 9.58, 9.64, and 9.69 seconds.
Bolt expressed his gratitude as he said, “I am thankful to ICC for nominating me as Brand Ambassador for this mega event. It is great to see this World Cup coming to the USA and the West Indies. I am excited to support the West Indies team and will definitely play my part to grow this Brand of Cricket globally as this format presents a window of opportunity to be included in the LA Olympics in 2028”.
Chris Gayle: (Universe Boss)
Chris Gayle is one of the greatest explosive left hand openers in the game of Cricket. He is the first player to make a century in the T20 format that was against South Africa in ICC T20 World Cup 2007 opening game. Gayle has played almost all t20 leagues like IPL, BPL, Big Bash, PSL and CPL. Gayle had added valuable contributions in winning the T20 World Cup 2012 and T20 World Cup 2016. He has many records under his name like
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Fastest T20 Century (30 balls)
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Most Sixes in a T20 Innings (18 Sixes)
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First batsman to score 10000 T20 runs
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First batsman to hit 1000 T20 6s
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First batsman to hit 1000 T20 4s
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Only batsman to score atleast 10 T20 centuries
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Only batsman to score 100 T20 50 plus scores
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Highest individual score of 175 runs not out in a T20 innings.
So Chris Gayle is definitely a great resemblance to this shorter version of the game and indeed a great choice from ICC to be nominated as Brand Ambassador for this mega event. Chris Gayle showed his delight for this honour as he said, “I am thankful to ICC for selecting me as Brand Ambassador for T20 World Cup 2024. I am expecting sold out matches in this tournament”.
Yuvraj Singh:
Yuvraj is one of the most destructive middle-order batsmen in world T20 cricket from India. He played a vital role in winning the first edition of T20 world cup back in 2007. His most epic performance in t20 cricket is when he hit 6 sixes in an over to England’s Stuart Broad.
The 42-years old Yuvi has been really excited to be the part of this event as he said, “Some of my great memories came from playing this shorter format of Cricket including hitting 6 sixes in an over. So I am excited to be nominated as an Ambassador for this mega event. West Indies is a great place to play T20 cricket especially ICC going for the first time to USA would be rather more exciting to be part of this new growth for the game of Cricket”.
Shahid Afridi: (Boom Boom Afridi):
Pakistan’s star all-rounder Shahid Afridi who has participated in a total of 6 t20 world cups and in 2 of them as a captain has also been nominated as Brand Ambassador for this T20 World Cup 2024. Afridi with the bat had made a decisive contribution to lead his side to champions glory in t20 world cup 2009 final match against Sri Lanka in England.
Afridi, mainly famous for hitting sixes, has entertained the cricketing world both with bat and ball. He has a huge fan following all around the world. Afridi will be participating in many promotional activities and cricket analysis during this mega event which will definitely increase viewership of this tournament.
Shahid Afridi on becoming Ambassador has said, “T20 cricket is very close to my heart, I have some great cricket memories associated with it like from becoming player of the tournament in first 20-over world cup 2007 to becoming Man of the Match in 20-over world cup 2009 and winning it for my country Pakistan so I am super excited to be part of this mega event again”. He further added, “T20 Cricket in the USA which is a new place for Cricket at global level with fans coming in large numbers would be great to watch”.
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