USA orchestrates shock defeat of Pakistan at Men’s T20 Cricket World Cup

I think you're right. Kind of like how in India every insurance plan or pension is called a "scheme" which to my American ear makes it sound sinister.

So soccer wasn't much of a thing in 50s America? I would never have guessed that given how ubiquitous it is now.

I honestly thought this was like how the NFL and MLB do games abroad to try to market the sport to new audiences. I literally thought it was a marketing ploy to get Americans into cricket. I didn’t even stop to think that maybe we were playing in the tournament lol

That said, I'm guessing American football is about as confusing to them as cricket is to us. I didn't realize T20 was the same as Twenty20 cricket (although I actually should have because I do know the difference between that and normal cricket). I tried to figure it out once myself. I kind of get it. Admittedly, the whole physics of the thing is kind of interesting, but still over my head.

Do you not get cricket or T20 in particular?

To put it simply, cricket is taking turns to bat/bowl where one team 'bowls' : where everyone spreads out on the field and on person bowls the ball down the pitch at the current batter.
The other team 'bats' : two players are in the centre of the field and try to hit the ball. After hitting the ball, the batters will run between each end of the pitch and each time they cross over and make it to the other end this is counted as a 'run', however if they manage to hit the ball out of the field boundary - if its in the air: automatic 6 runs, or after a bounce/along the ground: automatic 4 runs).
The batters can get 'out' by 1. They miss hitting the ball and the ball hits the wickets (wooden poles) behind them. 2. They hit the ball and it is caught on the full (before it bounces). 3. They hit the ball, but while they are running between the ends of the pitch one of the fielding team throws the ball at the wickets whilst the batter is still out of the 'crease' (safe zone at each end, like a baseball base). 4. Blocking the ball from hitting the wickets with their body (usually leg), but only IF it was going to hit the wicket if they didnt block the ball.
Once 10 of the 11 players on the batting team are out, the batting & bowling team swap sides and then the winner is the one with the most runs made by the end of the day/days depending on the type of match.

There are some other technical rules and aspects but thats it in a nutshell, but you can see why it would be a slow game where batters try keep the game at their pace to not be rushed and be calculating with when they want to take risks or big shots.

Which is where T20 comes in, each team gets 20 'overs' each (an over is a set of 6 bowls from the bowling side, so 20 overs is 120 individual bowls at the batters). After 20 overs, or all players on the batting side getting out, the teams swap sides. T20 changes the game from a couple batters holding on as long as they can (which can be hours to over a day each for the better batters on each team) to the batters taking big risks - big swings, more 6's and 4's, more risky runs up & down the pitch because they dont have the time for strategic & slow methodical gameplay. This makes the games last only a couple hours total, usually played at night with more intensity & excitement + pyrotechnics, colorful outfits, more energetic commentary, etc.

TL:DR - Cricket is like baseball but played on a much bigger field, instead of running between bases they run up and back down the pitch, each player only gets the one 'out' per game and the whole team gets out before they swap sides.