While baseball is known as America’s favorite pastime, another sport involving a bat and ball has an earlier history in this country and is beloved by ex-pats living around the U.S., including in Newton.
“It’s a beautiful sport; I’m in love with it,” said Kartik Shah, an executive committee member of the Greater Boston Cricket Foundation (GBCF). At this time, the organization only has men’s teams, but Shah said he hopes to help create teams for women. He encourages those interested in getting involved to contact him through the GBCF.
Although it’s mostly popular in England and other former territories of the British Empire, many local fans were thrilled that the 2024 International Cricket Council (ICC) Men’s T20 World Cup was recently hosted by the U.S. and West Indies. Some of those fans also play in Massachusetts cricket leagues. In fact, Newton resident Chirag Bhatt was instrumental in helping the GBCF get off the ground, said Shah.
Like many cricket players and fans in the U.S., Bhatt is originally from India. After growing up there and in the Middle East, he came to America for school, eventually moving to Newton in 2016.
Bhatt recalled that as a child, he’d come home from school, finish his homework, “and go out to play with the rest of the kids … I just loved it.”
Fast-forwarding to life in the U.S., Bhatt said he enjoys watching American football and baseball, but wanted his children to learn about the sport he cherished from childhood, so he began coaching.
Like many ex-pat fans and players, he would be thrilled if schools offered cricket or there were other ways to bring it into the mainstream in the U.S.
“We want to transfer that passion to our kids, to that next generation,” said Shah, who also is originally from India.
“Starting this among the younger kids is essential” to make cricket more well known, said Newton resident Suman Singh, another GBCF player.
Recalling his childhood, Newton resident R. J. Joshi said part of the appeal of playing cricket during his childhood in India was that “We just needed a bat and a ball.”
Currently a member of the Khiladis Cricket Club, which is part of the New England Cricket Association (NECA), Joshi loved watching the T20 World Cup with his son and hoped to spark his interest in the sport.
NECA also has teams only for men, but president Raghuvir Leelasagar said that if a co-ed team wanted to participate, “We would welcome such an opportunity.”
Creating the next generation of U.S. fans and players is one of the goals of USA Cricket — the website of the men’s and women’s national teams.
The organization’s vision is “for cricket to become a mainstream sport in the United States, and USA Cricket to become a full member of the International Cricket Council by 2030.”
To accomplish this goal, the organization states it will focus on developing the sport with children and women.
Newton resident Tanay Desai grew up in India and Kuwait and started playing with friends when he was around 13. His 12-year-old son, who has been playing since he was five, often speaks with his friends who play baseball about the similarities and differences between the sports.
Desai said that unfortunately, around age 15, there is a big drop off with kids playing cricket in the U.S. due to a lack of dedicated fields and a lack of cricket programs in school or after school.
“That’s where towns need to have buy-in as well” to bring the sport to the masses. Desai acknowledges, “there’s a long way to go.”
Fun and friendship
Passersby at Albemarle Field, Cabot Park, or several other sports locations around Newton may come upon a cricket game in progress, since several Greater Boston area teams have been playing in the city for years.
The thriving leagues — some recreational, some more competitive — attract players of different skill levels and ages. Although participants enjoy the competition and fitness aspects of playing, they also value the bonding and camaraderie associated with the game.
“Our mission is Three Fs: Fun, fitness, and friendship,” states the GBCF website.
Singh said playing as an adult in the U.S., “brought back very fond memories from childhood.”
When he started participating again, he was on a team where initially he did not know anyone. However, he now says he has 15 new friends.
“We are coming together as people who used to love the sport while growing up,” said Singh.
Bhanu Karlapudi, another Newton resident, said he’s happy to be a cricketer again and likes that games take place in the evening, so he does not miss family time.
Current participants who have not played regularly — sometimes for decades — are now joining in a few days a week.
“There’s a few things that come back easily,” said Karlapudi.
“It makes me want to stay fit,” said Joshi. “It challenges me to be mentally strong.”
Although some players may be rusty, “People get better over time,” said Desai, especially with encouragement from their teammates.
“After the game, we’re just another set of friends,” said Bhatt.
A few cricket basics
According to USA Cricket, the sport “was being played here [in the U.S.] before it became the United States, and historical records as early as 1709 have chronicled its existence.”
The ICC states “There are three formats of cricket played at the international level – Test matches, One-Day Internationals, and Twenty20 Internationals.”
The Twenty20 or “T20” World Cup was played last month in the U.S. and West Indies and is described as “the newest, shortest, and fastest form of the game,” according to the ICC.
The ESPN Cric Info website contains useful information on the basics of the sport:
- A match of cricket is played between two sides (teams) of 11 players. There are also two umpires on the field.
- One side bats while the other fields, just as in baseball, and similarly one side attempts to score runs while the other side tries to stop them, and the side with the most runs wins.
- Each side has two innings and when each side has completed its two innings, the side with the most runs wins.
- Matches almost always have a previously agreed time limit, generally in days, with the hours of play for each day specified in advance. If both sides do not complete their innings within the time specified, the match is a draw, regardless of the score. (In cricket, a draw and a tie are not the same thing. A draw is a match that is not completed; a tie is a match that is completed with the scores even.)
