Even for Americans, who do big as well as anyone, the magnitude of today’s India versus Pakistan Twenty20 World Cup clash takes some getting the head round.

Although Benjamin Franklin, one of the country’s founding fathers, took the laws of the game back with him from England in 1754, only now through the scheduling on their soil of one of sport’s great international grudge matches does it feel like cricket has truly landed in the United States.

And the state of the pitch in New York for the 19th match of this tournament only adds to the intrigue.

A TV audience of 125 million watched Kansas City Chiefs complete back-to-back Super Bowl wins earlier this year, but there are conservative estimates of four times that number tuning in this afternoon.

Broadcast live, it will be available in nearly 20m US households and lapped up by the 7.5m immigrants of South Asian heritage across North America. But it is the global appeal of the India-Pakistan rivalry that takes it towards the living room crowd of 1.5 billion for the penalty shoot-out drama of Argentina’s World Cup final win over France two years ago.

India’s clash with Pakistan promises to be an all-star showdown perfect for the burgeoning cricket market in the US

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More than 500m fans are set to tune in around the world to watch the T20 World Cup tie

Evidence that this is the hottest ticket in town came yesterday when event re-sale site StubHub had a seat available to purchase at £137,500. The face value cost for a hospitality package was £7,500.

The average price for general admission in Florida, Texas, New York or one of the six Caribbean venues is £95. However, such is the demand to be one of the 34,000 people present at Eisenhower Park this afternoon that the figure for this contest has soared beyond £1,000.

The geopolitical fault lines of India and Pakistan are hard to ignore whenever the two Asian rivals clash.

Three wars have been fought between the two countries in the 77 years since the end of British colonial rule and heavy restrictions on exchanges of goods or civilians have been put in place, despite the two countries sharing a border, a culture and a deeply intertwined history.

The divide has deepened during the 10 years of Narendra Modi, a Hindu nationalist, as Indian prime minister. Earlier this week, Modi won a third term, suggesting that meetings on the cricket field will continue to be limited to ICC global events like this.

At last year’s 50-over World Cup, hosted by India, the Pakistan squad were only granted visas at the 11th hour and their supporters were blocked from travelling by the red tape that saw the arrival of Shoaib Bashir, who has Pakistani heritage, delayed at the start of England’s Test tour last January.

Yet cricket has shown its ability to unite two nations of a combined 1.7 billion population.

Pakistan’s players were cheered by Indian fans when they arrived in Hyderabad last year and their captain Babar Azam’s gifting of a Pakistan shirt to a ground worker at one of the stadiums was a moment of PR genius.

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Virat Kohli starred as India dramatically defeated their rivals two years ago in a game that was decided by the final ball

The theme of India putting them in their place has been extended on the field, however. It is 8-0 between the two at 50-over World Cups, and Pakistan have won just once in seven attempts at T20 global gatherings.

For 90 per cent of the most recent meeting between the two sides in Melbourne two years ago it appeared the Pakistanis were going to double their tally.

India required 48 off the final three overs and 28 off just eight deliveries when Virat Kohli preposterously struck successive sixes to keep the extraordinary drama alive.

Kohli, a tear in his eye, was there at the end to witness a wide and then a single by Ravinchandran Ashwin from the re-bowled delivery by Mohammad Nawaz as an improbable victory was sealed off the final ball.

It was actually a game between these two huge cricketing foes in 2007 that ultimately determined that cricket moved in the direction of T20 — one that has led to this meeting in Long Island.

India treated T20 with scepticism until the inaugural short-form World Cup, but things changed from the moment Sreesanth’s hands clasped around the ball to dismiss Misbah-ul-Haq in the final in Johannesburg.

Overnight, T20 became the form of choice across the subcontinent and within months the Indian Premier League — and its commercial explosion — was born.

Today’s match has been given even greater significance by Pakistan’s shock super-over defeat by the USA on Thursday. Lose and they will be relying on favours from others to progress to the Super Eights. But a significant downside of taking the game Stateside has been the sub-par surfaces served up at the temporary Nassau County stadium.

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Meanwhile ahead a shock loss to the USA Pakistan need to defeat India to keep their World Cup destiny in their hands

Indeed, the ICC have acknowledged the poor quality of the drop-in pitches cultivated in Adelaide and transported over 14,000 miles after Sri Lanka were skittled for 77 by South Africa and Ireland were dismissed for 96 by India on one ex-England coach Andy Flower said was ‘bordering on dangerous’. Rohit Sharma retired after being hit near his shoulder, while wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant also took a blow to the body.

Groundstaff have worked round the clock to prepare one befitting such a spectacle, but whatever the results of their efforts, controversy is sure to find its way into the latest clash of the Asian giants.

Share or comment on this article: With tickets fetching £137,500 and half a BILLION fans watching on TV it’s no wonder that India vs Pakistan is a clash for the ages, writes RICHARD GIBSON