It’s exciting, not intimidating to play against Indian superstars: Aaron Jones

PTI, Jun 12, 2024, 11:55 AM IST

Aaron Jones (credit: PTI / AP)

New York: USA batter Aaron Jones on Tuesday said playing against Indian superstars such as Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli in the T20 World Cup will be exciting and not intimidating.

The two teams are set for a showdown in a Group A match here on Wednesday.

Both India and USA have won two games each so far, which adds more flavour to the contest.

“It is actually exciting, me growing up as a kid, I always wanted to play against the best players in the world. I’m definitely going to get the opportunity to do that now and it’s exciting for me, I don’t want to say intimidating,” Jones said in the pre-match press conference.

“I’m excited to play against them and talk to them. Definitely to beat them as well,” he added.

Jones said the India-origin players in the US camp, who at some stage in their lives had played cricket with some of the current Indian players, would be excited to link up with their former teammates as well.

“They’re pretty excited to be honest. This is the first time USA will be playing against India. So many guys in our team are from India they actually played against and with so many guys back in the past, so they definitely (would) be excited to play against some friends for sure,” he said.

Jones also hoped cricket would be able to find much bigger space in the hearts of American sports lover after this World Cup.

“With cricket being one of the biggest sports in the world, it’s only a matter of time before a majority people come on board,” he said.

“America is a place where people love sports. Obviously, this World Cup is going to open the eyes of a lot of people and then in a few years, you have cricket in the Olympics — that’s a very big thing as well. I think everything is on the rise right now,” he added.