Cricket is having a moment in the US. Can it bowl over American audiences?

When the United States beat Pakistan in a World Cup cricket match in Texas last week, the upset stunned cricket watchers worldwide. Only a select audience has been aware of the growth of cricket in the U.S. in recent decades, and the excitement ignited a broader burst of interest that many cricketers hope will last.

Around the world, cricket has long been a tool both for diplomacy and an outlet for expressing fraught relations between countries like India and Pakistan. But the surprise win against Pakistan spotlighted the fast-rising popularity of the sport within the U.S., which traces back to cross-cultural stories of immigrants from countries that embrace cricket.

Adult and youth leagues exist all over the country, with hundreds of teams in some metro areas. Last week’s T20 World Cup match between the U.S. and Pakistan, and India’s subsequent win against Pakistan, drew max capacity crowds of 40,000 cumulatively, with attendees paying single ticket prices reaching into the thousands. This week, the much-anticipated match between the U.S. and India is expected to draw a sold-out crowd of 34,000 to a temporary stadium on Long Island, New York. 

Cricket’s fast-rising popularity in the U.S. is largely thanks to expats from South Asia and beyond, who are reveling in attention centered on the tournament, with some World Cup games hosted by the U.S. for the first time. The current enthusiasm is familiar to many Americans with roots in Southeast Asia, South Africa, Britain, or the Caribbean. But some hope it’s an indication of future growth. 

“There’s this kind of growing embracing of what has been a global sport except for the United States’ participation,” says Jay Coakley, a professor emeritus at University of Colorado, Colorado Springs who studies global migration and sports.

Fans are excited to see cricket as an Olympic sport for the first time since 1900 at the 2028 games in Los Angeles. The new U.S. Major League Cricket, started by investments from tech leaders like Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, sold out its debut season games last year.

A community of U.S. cricket players 

For cricketers here, the sudden attention on their sport after the U.S. surprise win brings some welcome hope for additional interest and funding. But players are quick to point out that the sport has been played here for decades – and goes beyond athletics for many immigrant families who find community through the game.

On a bumpy pitch in Adelphi, Maryland, first and second generation Americans from Pakistan, India, Jamaica, and South Africa are gathered on a sunny afternoon. Most are playing, and a handful of others are sitting on bleachers, waiting to sub back into the match as it approaches hour three. Infamously, matches can go on for five days, but today’s will end just shy of four hours, with the faster style of play known as T20.

This league was formed in 1974 around three teams fielded by the Indian, Pakistani, and British embassies. Today, the league is one of several in the area and has close to 50 teams, many of which boast professional cricketers from India and Pakistan, among other countries. 

Watching the match, teammates joked with each other about allegiances for the World Cup. Several men, all of whom grew up in India, said they rooted for the U.S. against Pakistan, but will cheer for India on Wednesday. But, there was one stipulation: “The game should be close, but India should win,” said Neil Narvekar, who imagines another close match will boost interest – and hopefully investment – in American cricket.

In Boston, players in the Massachusetts State Cricket League laughed and told jokes in Hindi, Urdu, and English on Sunday as they waited to hear whether their match would be canceled amid pouring rain. The umpires decided to call off the game, one of 27 scheduled for the weekend in the city and suburbs. 

Ajay Rodrigues, originally from India, works in tech and is president of the East Coast Cricket Club. The club “is my community,” he says. “When I moved here, I had no friends. I had no one. Cricket gave me that.”

Mr. Rodrigues watched the U.S.-Pakistan match alone in his office, but says he felt connected through a constant stream of social media and WhatsApp messages with fellow fans. He hopes to pass the sport along to the next generation, and to see it grow – including by recruiting players from a wider array of countries.

Driving cricket’s growth 

Currently, much of the momentum behind cricket in the U.S. is attributed to immigrants from South Asia and the West Indies. The South Asian immigrant population has been one of the fastest growing in the country, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, with the number of immigrants from India in particular increasing by 60% between 2010 and 2022.

Major League Cricket started last summer with six teams, powered by nearly $1 billion from prominent Indian Americans like Mr. Nadella and Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen. The league outperformed financial expectations in the first season, and last year’s tournament drew 70,000 fans to Dallas. Organizers plan to grow the number of teams for next season, which starts on July 5.

Equally important as bolstering the professional league is building grassroots engagement by establishing cricket in schools, players say.

Though the U.S. lacks spiffy cricket facilities and overall familiarity with the sport, there’s still opportunity, says Sarbjeet Ladda, a professional player and coach living in Maryland. The cricket market in India “is saturated,” he says. Here, there’s a growing job market.

Measured success 

While cricket has been growing for decades in the U.S. the landscape isn’t likely to transform overnight. Despite the high number of teams in regions like the mid-Atlantic or Texas, players are quick to point out that it’s hard to find proper pitches, or fields – which should be perfectly level, with the grass trimmed just-so. Often, the money isn’t there to build them.

“I don’t see cricket just entering the U.S. like a waterfall here. I see it more like a stream,” says Dr. Coakley.

Cricket could take off faster in the U.S. if the International Cricket Council, which organizes global tournaments, invested more here, says Michael Chambers, director of the Cricket Hall of Fame in Connecticut. 

“The West Indian, Caribbean community – we’ve been developing cricket in the U.S. since I came here in 1968,” from Jamaica, he says. “It’s unfortunate that the ICC looks at the U.S. not as a developing cricket nation but as a viewing nation, a place they will suck money out of rather than develop cricket.”

Kapil Yanamandra, a software engineer and cricketer from Boston, is optimistic about cricket’s future. The U.S. win against Pakistan shows that the sport’s popularity has “taken off” from when he started playing after moving here in 2013. Last week, coworkers who’d never shown an interest in cricket began following the games, and a contractor working at his home asked how he could involve his son in the sport.

Mr. Yanamandra, who grew up in India, plans to tune in to the U.S.-India match to root for both teams.

“I was actually thinking I should get a USA jersey and stitch it up where the front is India and the back is USA,” he says. “At the end of the day, it’s a sport, right? It’s people coming close [together].”