Cricket culture finds footing in Bay Area
Editor’s note: This story was produced for the independent Mosaic Journalism Program for Bay Area high school students, an intensive course in journalism. Students in the program report and photograph stories under the guidance of professional journalists.
As immigrants and people on visas from South Asia move to the United States, they are bringing the sport of cricket with them.
About 5 million Americans are either immigrants from South Asia or their descendants, according to the United States Census Bureau’s 2020 data. They come to America for various job opportunities, and they have also brought their passion for cricket.
Many are tapping into the South Asian-American cricket culture.
Anvay Gupte, who will be a senior at San Jose’s Silver Creek High School in the fall, was the president of Silver Creek Cricket Club during his freshman and sophomore years at the school. The club met once or twice a month on Fridays after school, and in the beginning they taught members who didn’t know how to play, then later played scrimmage games.
Opportunities to practice the game in the Bay Area are growing.
CricKingdom, a cricket academy based in Fremont, offers training for students of all abilities and ages, according to its website.
The California Cricket Academy, or CCA, is also located in Fremont. According to Hemant Buch, a founder of the academy, CCA is the largest cricket academy in the U.S. He said the academy has coached more than 50 top American players, including Steven Taylor, one of the players on the U.S. national team. Taylor was born and raised in Florida.
Buch also said that California Assemblymember Ash Kalra, D-San Jose, recently introduced legislation urging the California Interscholastic Federation, the governing body of high school sports in California, to recognize cricket as a high school sport.
Last summer, Major League Cricket was founded with six teams, including the San Francisco Unicorns. The league also sponsors under-14 and under-17 games, according to the website. Matches take place at Grand Prairie Stadium near Dallas.
Nischal Jasti is a member of the class of 2027 at Silver Creek High School in San Jose.