On an average Saturday morning, many young Americans are active early in the day playing recreational sports. Youth basketball and baseball are classic weekend activities in the United States. However, one sport trumps all but soccer. This second-most popular sport in the world is not American football. It is not basketball or baseball either. The honor belongs to cricket — a game from South Asia that many domestic sports fans likely have never watched.
But for a community that has been largely unspoken for in the American sports ecosystem, cricket is so much more than a game. In India and the surrounding countries of Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Nepal, it has been said that cricket resembles a religion. Furthermore, the pride of those nations in the sport — and their wider culture — does not simply disappear once they decide to move across the Atlantic.
While it may seem that a lot of what the sport offers is taking place far from Grounds and the city of Charlottesville, it turns out that a lot of cricket is happening right in our own backyard. The Charlottesville Cricket Club — better known as CVCC to its members and to teams around the state and mid-Atlantic region — has been the heart and soul of Charlottesville’s cricket community for over two decades. Longtime CVCC player Abhijit Dighe has played with the club since its earliest years, and he explained that cricket in Charlottesville has been an enriching experience.
“I got my lifelong friends through CVCC when I came to this town for my education in 2002,” Dighe said. “Dr. Prabhaka P. Reddi, who was [an] associate professor at the University at the time, started this club, and it was a great pleasure to be associated with him and CVCC since its conception.”
CVCC is a diverse group of cricket enthusiasts across various backgrounds and levels of experience. CVCC captain Raj Desai noted that cricket is a unifying force in the greater Charlottesville community.
“It’s not just about the sport itself, but the friendships we’ve formed and the cultural exchange that happens naturally,” Desai said. “We’ve got people from all walks of life — students, professionals, folks who’ve grown up with cricket and others who are just discovering it.”
Desai and Dighe’s experience with CVCC is just a small sample of cricket’s increased popularity here in the U.S. There is no greater evidence of this increased popularity than the recent match between India and Pakistan earlier this summer, which took place as part of the International Cricket Council Men’s T20 World Cup jointly hosted by the West Indies and the United States. It was the very first time that a major cricket tournament has graced our borders, and it showed in the unbridled enthusiasm expressed by all 34,028 fans in attendance, adorned in blue and green for their respective nations, that entered the hastily-built stadium in East Meadow, N.Y.
It was not just cricket’s premier rivalry that opened eyes to the sport. In one of the Cricket World Cup’s more unexpected developments, the team representing the stars and stripes put together a performance worthy of celebration. The U.S. squad took down Pakistan, an ICC full-member nation that ranks among the world’s best. With this victory, a high-scoring win against Canada and a hard-fought contest against India, the U.S. team escaped the group stage and was the only ICC associate nation to make the “Super Eight” stage of the tournament.
American highlights like these have been forecasted by administrators and investors within the game for some time now. Just last year, a new league featuring six teams across the U.S. was unveiled, and its inaugural season took place that summer with great success. With that success came more signings of some of the world’s best players, and Major League Cricket is currently undergoing its second season with a remarkable quality of play and an accumulation of fans.
Even before cricket’s skyrocketing popularity, Desai and company have been a major powerhouse in the Mid-Atlantic region.
“We proudly represent [Charlottesville] in our league,” Dighe said. “When we play as CVCC, we are citizens of this town. We do not play as Indian or Nepalese or Pakistani or Sri Lankan or Bangladeshi or Australian or British people. It is a very special feeling that bonds all of our players together who come from all these countries.”
For all of the comradery that comes with representing their town, many of the players here still look to the highest levels of the game that all fans aspire to, whether it is cheering on their home nation or rooting for their favorite players in different franchise leagues around the world. For them, the idea of the U.S. as a rising nation in the sport’s landscape is an added benefit. Even for players in Charlottesville, the significance of the growth of the professional game in the U.S. is not lost on them.
“The growing awareness of cricket in the U.S. with the T20 World Cup feels incredibly exciting and promising. It’s a unique opportunity to introduce cricket to a broader American audience and build a lasting fan base, especially with the upcoming 2028 Los Angeles Olympics boosting [even] further interest,” Desai said.
While cricket has yet to become an NCAA-recognized varsity sport, it is clear that high-end talent can still be found in the greater Charlottesville community, and like the national trend, cricket’s popularity continues to rise — CVCC’s Facebook page has over 1,000 followers.
“It’s pretty cool to have this thriving cricket scene in a place where you might not expect it. It adds a unique flavor to Charlottesville’s sports culture and makes our city feel even more diverse and welcoming,” Desai said.
It has been a long time coming, but the game of cricket is beginning to take off in the U.S., and many in town are working to ensure that Charlottesville continues to be at the forefront of cricket’s growth. Through a motivated club of diverse players, cricket perfectly encompasses the heart of the University and Charlottesville values.
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