Indian cricketers in Japan. (Pic credit: JCA)

NEW DELHI: Alan Curr has stopped counting how many hats he’s worn this week.On Sunday morning, with a typhoon on the horizon, the Japan Cricket Association (JCA) COO pulled covers off the wicket. Later, he was putting up hospitality tents, checking security plans and helping transform a quaint cricket ground with 500 permanent seats into a venue worthy of hosting the reigning T20I world champions. By Tuesday, weather permitting, India will walk out against Japan in the country’s first-ever men’s senior international against a Full Member.For Japanese cricket, getting here is success in itself and the scoreline almost secondary.“A lot of success has almost already happened,” Curr says. “The fact that India have agreed to come, the fact that I’m sitting here talking to you guys, the fact that Japanese media are coming to learn about cricket — we’re having successes already,” he told select media.Cricket is not new to Japan, having been introduced in the 1870s. But adaptation is a different story. Baseball, Football, Sumo Wrestling, Basketball, Golf, Tennis, Boxing are some sports that are bigger. India’s arrival represents cricket’s loudest introduction in recent memory.

Japan Cricket Association (JCA) COO Alan Curr (IANS Photo)

More than just another T20I match

Japan has played in Under-19 World Cups, faced India and Pakistan at youth level and competed in the Asian Games with its women’s team. But this is different gravy.“It certainly helps to say that the reigning world champions, the No. 1 ranked team in the world, are coming to Japan,” Curr says. “It’s piquing interest, but we’ve still got a long way to go before cricket breaks into the mainstream sporting audience.”That mainstream audience is precisely what the JCA hopes to reach. The timing is ideal: cricket returns to the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya just days later, allowing Japan to explain the sport through one of the country’s most recognisable sporting events.“The Asian Games gives cricket legitimacy that it didn’t have before,” Curr says. “You can’t be what you can’t see.”

Cricket’s quiet, but slow, growth in Japan

Behind the scenes, cricket has been expanding steadily in Japan. Registered players have risen from around 3,000 when Curr arrived in 2014 to 8,800 today. The Japan Cup — the T20 competition in the country — has grown from barely a dozen teams to more than 80, while the domestic 40-over league now spans four divisions.“Kaizen is the word,” Curr says. “Continual improvement. That’s what we’re trying to do for the sport. But now and again there are moments like this where you can accelerate that,” he added.

Spectators during the Asian Games second semifinal between India women and Bangladesh women in Japan. (PTI Photo)

Winning hearts and viewers, not necessarily the match

Japan harbour no illusions about the cricketing challenge ahead. “This India team is pretty good,” Curr said as a matter of fact. “It’s going to be an extremely difficult challenge for players who have never played at that level before.”Instead, his measure of success is cultural.He points to Japan’s women’s team, praised recently for staying back after their Asian Games fixture against India to thank supporters and mingle with fans. That’s the identity he wants the men’s side to showcase too.“We want cricket to be played hard but also be accessible and friendly,” he says. “We want cricket to be fun.”If thousands of first-time spectators leave Sano remembering more than just India’s star power, Japanese cricket may have achieved exactly what it came for.

The BCCI were really keen to have an opportunity to train. It’s huge credit to them that they’re excited about coming here and building this relationship with the JCA

Alan Curr

How India fixture came into being

The historic fixture was never part of Japan’s grand plan to expand the sport. It began with clay.Eighteen months ago, the JCA set out to relay the turf square at Sano with help from Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), whose groundsman travelled to Japan to identify suitable clay. The same surface was eventually used to build the Asian Games venue in Nagoya, prompting a simple thought: if Japan had international-quality wickets, why not invite the world’s best teams to use them?Once the pitches were completed in March, Japan prepared a proposal and sent it to every Full Member ahead of the ICC conference in Edinburgh. Conversations with the BCCI began there — and, to Curr’s surprise, moved quickly.“The BCCI were really keen to have an opportunity to train. It’s huge credit to them that they’re excited about coming here and building this relationship with the JCA,” he said.The timing made sense. With the Asian Games beginning days later, India men’s squad would otherwise spend nearly a week waiting for their knockout fixture without access to proper cricket facilities. Sano offered both a training base and, eventually, a match. Again, with fingers crossed that the weather doesn’t play spoilsport.India vs Japan T20I will be broadcast LIVE on FanCode on September 22 at 9:30 am IST.