The IPL and the vast Indian consumer base are attracting other sports owners, data analysts, and lots of others interested in making money

Although played in over a hundred countries around the world and followed by hundreds of millions of fans, cricket is still in many ways misunderstood outside of the Test-playing countries, and until recently was primarily confined to traditional Commonwealth strongholds. For many Americans, it has been a "mysterious English sport", played in whites, with a "paddle", and scheduled around tea breaks. Compared to rugby or squash, sports that have similar roots and patterns of expansion, cricket is not understood as well.

However, over the last few years, several indicators have demonstrated evidence of cricket being increasingly accepted in America for its status on the global sports scene. For instance, top-tier US media outlets such as the New York Times, CNN and CNBC found cricket worthy of significant airtime when Shane Warne and Sachin Tendulkar came to the USA last year for the Cricket All-Stars exhibition T20 tour. Alongside highlight clips being featured more frequently on ESPN SportsCenter's Top Ten Plays, cricket has also made its way to Hollywood through Million Dollar Arm, a movie about scouting for baseball pitchers in India.

Cricket has also become a discussion point for many high-profile American sports administrators looking to learn from its recent success.

At last month's prestigious MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference in Boston, cricket featured on one of the panels for the first time in the event's ten-year history. It was attended by the biggest names in the sports industry - including Moneyball author Michael Lewis, and Billy Beane and Bill James, subjects of the book; NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman; and several owners and general managers of NBA and NFL teams.

Since rugby became an Olympic sport, over $15 million a year from Chinese national and local governments has been invested in rugby sevens. One could expect a similar amount would be invested in cricket should it be included in the Olympics

As the prize has increased, franchises, broadcasters and national boards have resorted to technology and innovation to find a competitive advantage. While the NFL recently announced a deal to broadcast games on Twitter, the IPL blazed a trail in digital content distribution in 2010, when games were streamed live worldwide on YouTube. There has also been a knock-on effect in technology from cricket to other sports, notably with Hawk-Eye technology, initially designed to judge lbw decisions but now an integral part of the tennis experience.

Cricket also happens to be a major beneficiary of innovations originating from other sports, because sport-tech companies view cricket as a growth market. For example, Catapult, a leading company focused on data capture from professional athletes in football, basketball and soccer, is investing in cricket as well, seeing it as an emerging sport with lucrative potential.

It is not a coincidence that the wider world beyond the traditional Commonwealth stronghold is taking notice of cricket. The game has become an attractive sports business and a conduit to the Indian consumer market. The rise of the Indian middle class, the success of the IPL and Big Bash League, and the ICC's efforts to globalise the sport have all contributed to its rise in popularity.

People unfamiliar with cricket in the US tend to view it as a small business - and perhaps not even a professional sport. The fact that MS Dhoni - whose $31 million per year made him the world's 23rd highest-earning athlete in Forbes' annual wealthiest athletes list - makes as much or more money than Neymar, Peyton Manning or Dwyane Wade raised a lot of eyebrows.

Meanwhile, the Indian Premier League's rise to prominence over the last eight years has made sports owners like Stan Kroenke consider participating in the business of cricket. His words are significant because Kroenke Sports Enterprises' ownership holdings include the NBA's Denver Nuggets, the NHL's Colorado Avalanche, MLS franchise Colorado Rapids, the National Lacrosse league's Colorado Mammoth, the NFL's Los Angeles Rams, and a stake as the largest shareholder of English football club Arsenal. His interest in adding a cricket team to his portfolio should not be surprising considering the original ten-year TV rights deal for the IPL exceeded $1b.

American businessman Stan Kroenke (left) is said to be interested in investing in cricket © Getty Images

Kroenke is not alone. Other sports organisations are also looking to infiltrate the lucrative Indian market. A large economy growing at more than 6%, with a burgeoning middle-class consumer base, has been an obvious target for sports such as Formula One, basketball and soccer, but any sport that is looking to break into the Indian market must understand its cricket fans. Intrigued by the phenomenal job the IPL was doing from its inception at managing fans, then-NBA commissioner David Stern visited India during the 2013 IPL to study its ways.

While the business of cricket is healthy, continued global expansion can make it even healthier. Inclusion in the Olympics will provide an avenue to new growth markets. Since rugby became an Olympic sport, over $15 million a year has been invested by Chinese national and local governments in rugby sevens. One could expect a similar amount would be invested in cricket should it be included in the Olympics, which would be 60 times more than the sport's current annual funding in China. In the USA, NBC's free-to-air prime-time coverage of the Olympics could do wonders for cricket's popularity in the region.

In November 2015, the ICC met with the International Olympic Committee in Lausanne, Switzerland, to discuss cricket's possible inclusion in the 2024 Summer Games, which has an excellent chance of being held in Los Angeles, one of the final four candidate cities, along with Budapest, Rome and Paris. The United States Olympics Committee has indicated interest in cricket, and support from them for cricket to be added as an Olympic sport can be expected if Los Angeles is granted hosting rights. The readmission of golf and rugby sevens in the Olympics is a sign the IOC is serious about including the world's most popular sports. Cricket also presents an opportunity for the IOC to fully penetrate the Indian viewership market.

Although cricket's rising prominence is being driven mainly by its business attractiveness, social media has played a role in introducing it to new audiences. Roger Federer's controversial Facebook post referencing India at the start of the 2015 World Cup showed how sports followers outside of cricket can be drawn in. Twitter exchanges between international sports celebrities, such as Harry Kane and Virat Kohli's back and forth during the 2016 World T20, and Dwayne Bravo's inclusion as a 2015 ESPY Award Best Play nominee also show the value of two-way exposure between cricket and platforms shared by other athletes.

While all of these cross-sport interactions with cricket continue taking place, there is great optimism for the visibility and growth of cricket in emerging markets around the world, so much so that #WT20 and #OlympicsT20 will soon be trending not just in India but even in America and China.

Usman Shuja is the USA's leading wicket-taker, a member of the ICC's US Local Advisory Group (LAG), and the vice-president of market development for SparkCognition. @kshuja

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.