Cricket Australia Board member Harry Harinath has advised Big Bash Twenty20 side Sydney Thunder to rope in players from India and Sri Lanka to increase its fan base among the people of sub-continbental origin based in Sydney.
"If you (recruited) two Indian and two Sri Lankan players it'd be fantastic for the Sydney Thunder. No matter who they signed - MS Dhoni, Rohit Sharma or whoever - it doesn't really matter, it'd do wonders for them," Harinath was quoted as saying by 'The Sydney Morning Herald'.
"The whole idea of taking the T20 international to Olympic Park was to provide a form of cricket entertainment for the people living in the western suburbs of Sydney, of which 90,000 of the population come from (south) Asian countries - of which the majority is India. It was clearly shown the population supports cricket and the Thunder must work to make them (Indian-Australians) the home team."
Harinath the Big Bash has worked out just fine so far.
"The public are supporting the Big Bash League, the television ratings are very good, and the crowds that turned out to the internationals in Sydney and Melbourne were outstanding," Harinath said.
{{/usCountry}}"The public are supporting the Big Bash League, the television ratings are very good, and the crowds that turned out to the internationals in Sydney and Melbourne were outstanding," Harinath said.
{{/usCountry}}"I'm having people tell me they never followed cricket but after going to Homebush they will continue to go to Twenty20 games."