$100 Million Stadium: Morrisville SAMP Army Owner Ritesh Patel Makes Big Announcement On The Sidelines Of Abu Dhabi T10 League | EXCLUSIVE

Ritesh Patel, owner of Morrisville SAMP Army in the Abu Dhabi T10 league has plans to venture in the Indian Premier League (IPL) but before that there is a massive $100 million project in the pipeline in the United States with an eye to host the T20 World Cup 2024.

Abu Dhabi: Ritesh Patel, who is the owner of Morrisville SAMP Army – a team that features in the ongoing Abu Dhabi T10 League spoke exclusively with CricketCountry on the sidelines of the tournament and made a big announcement regarding his future plans. With the likes of Moeen Ali, David Miller, Anrich Nortje in the ranks, Morrisville SAMP Army have by far looked the best side of the tournament before losing their first match of the league to New York Strikers on Monday.

“As an Indian, cricket is in your blood. I have been in the US since the last 27 years. I had played cricket and was involved in cricket but since the last couple of years, cricket is going to a different level. And that is what dragged my attention towards cricket, more so in franchise cricket and we are in that right now,” said Patel while talking about his love for the game and what took him to own a team in the Abu Dhabi T10 league.

Talking about the composure of his team, he said, “The unique thing about my team is that I have two big guys. Meeon Ali, who is the current World Cup winner and David Miller, who is a IPL winner. They have won two big tournaments and that is the biggest part. We have the world’s fastest bowler Anrich Nortje and all the rest of the guys like Shimron Hetmyer known for hitting big sixes and Sheldon Cottrell are also there. The team has balance which is the best thing. We also have some of the guys from US, who have been phenomenal and are here to get more exposure.”

With plans to venture in the IPL, Patel is now focussed on not just building a great team but also a state of the art cricket stadium in the United States with an eye to host a couple of games in the T20 World Cup 2024, that may go on to cost – a whopping $100 million dollars.

“In US, I am building a stadium which is like a $100 million project. It is in North Carolina and it is happening by next year and the 2024 T20 World Cup we are expecting some games there as well. That is the biggest part right after this. And in the last few years, as mentioned earlier, cricket has really taken off in the US,” Patel revealed.

“I am not involved in the Indian Premier League (IPL). I have had some involvement but not any real involvement which might happen in the future. We would like to take one step at a time. IPL is in the pipeline but with the T10 – we have passed one milestone and there are a couple of others coming. Slowly, we are getting there,” he further added.

With T10 being the newest and the shortest format of the game, Patel reckons it does have a future.

“T20 is attractive but T10 is more attractive and the reason behind it is the shorter format and nowadays a lot of people just watch the highlights, and this is kind of highlights. It is a 10-over format, just get going and it is going to draw more attention to the people and more attention will lead to more viewership. Media and everything is also there. And more and more people will wish to do marketing and sponsor the product,” he concluded.