On a sunny Saturday afternoon, players and umpires take their positions in an open field; there are balls, bats, and protective gear.
One player gets a hit. Others sprint to catch it. You’re probably thinking: baseball. But this is a recent cricket match between the Jonesboro Wolfpack and the Memphis Indian Lions.
Just outside the Hickory Hill Community Center, the Memphis Minor League is having its final game in the tournament. Sitting in the shade, players laugh, joke, and chat in their native tongues. There’s a bit of heckling as well.
For the Midsouth’s Indian community, cricket offers a sense of belonging. The sport is also growing, says Aditya Dash, one of the organizers and a former cricket player.
“My main objective, along with few others who have taken up this initiative, [is] to make sure that we pass along this game, which happens to be second largest sport in the world after soccer,” Dash says.
He says that the sport is popular with those who have fond memories of playing it elsewhere.
“It’s mind-boggling if you look at the progress which we have made in the last 18 years, where we started with just two teams,” Dash says, “and right now, our adult recreation league hosts more than 450 adults in this league.”
Organizer and player Vishal Chheda is from the Indian city of Mumbai. He’s lived in Memphis since the early 2000s.
“The game is considered like a religion in India, where I grew up,” Chheda says. For him, cricket offers a chance to reconnect with his roots.
“Whatever I’ve been missing from home, I find it right in here,” he says.
Manjit Kaur echoes those feelings. She’s a teacher in Germantown. In 2014, as president of the Indian Association of Memphis, she helped create another cricket league, the Memphis Premier League.
She says a passion for the sport binds her community.
“It’s very important because look at these people here now. You’ll see, they all come from different states, um, different parts of India. They speak different languages. They have different cultures,” she says. “But look at here; they are all together, right? There is nothing. They’re like one unit here. They play for their team. Whatever team they are representing here.”
Cricket is played on a large oval field with a pitch in the middle. There are three sites in Shelby County. Efforts to recruit new players are ongoing. The Collierville Cricket Academy, says Dash, now has about 40 youth, with aims to reach over one-hundred-fifty.
“Our efforts are entirely dedicated to those kids and we want those kids to start showing up in sessions and start learning cricket,” Dash says.
Dash invites anyone — kids or adults — curious about the sport to give it a try.
“We can definitely make sure that we at least give you a taste of cricket and then leave it to your taste buds to decide if you want to go for it,” he says.
And while cricket is played around the world, for the Midsouth’s Indian community, the sport brings back the flavors of home.
How to get involved
If you’d like to become part of a cricket team, or find out more about the game, check out the options below.
Memphis Premier League: https://cricclubs.com/MemphisPremierLeague
Memphis Minor Cricket League: https://www.memphisminorleague.com/
For training, visit the Collierville Cricket Academy’s website:
