Washington: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has described the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 as one of the most important global events of the day, saying that the tournament, which captures the attention of billions and billions of people, has a major potential to change the world.
His comments came during his address to a Washington audience that included Google's Indian-American CEO Sundar Pichai and top corporate executives from India and the US at the India Ideas Summit of the USIBC on Wednesday.
"I understand that you've been having deep, important conversations among you about one of the most important global events of our day, something with major potential to change the world, deep international events that capture the attention of billions and billions of people. Of course, that's the Cricket World Cup," Pompeo said amidst laughter from the audience.
Pompeo will travel to India, Sri Lanka, Japan and South Korea from June 24 to 30.
His four-nation tour is aimed at deepening the US partnerships in the strategic Indo-Pacific region.
Cricket also found mention in the speech of Pichai who has predicted that India and England would clash in the finals of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 and said he was "rooting" for the men in blue to emerge victorious.
The ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 is being hosted by England and Wales from May 30 to July 14.
