Cricket is the world's second most popular sport. Can it thrive in Boston?

<p>Cricket is a wildly popular sport, second only to soccer as the <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/07/13/1187445629/major-league-cricket-debut-texas-history-sport" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">most-watched sport</a> on the globe. In the United States, <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/4735/sports.aspx" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">football, basketball and baseball</a> still dominate. </p> <p>But evidence shows the bat-and-ball sport is <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/why-cricket-is-having-a-resurgence-in-popularity-in-america" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">once again</a> gaining traction in Greater Boston and across the country. </p> <p><strong>"</strong>I moved into Massachusetts in 2010. When I moved, we had about 30 teams, [and] if you assume 15 to 20 players per team, you have about 600 players back in 2010. Now, as of today, in 2023 October, we have roughly about 72 teams playing," said Kumar Putravu, president of the Massachusetts State Cricket League. "So we've doubled the number of teams and we have a total number of players, roughly around 2,000 to 3,000 players, give or take a few. It has grown exponentially over the last decade."</p> <p>From <a href="https://apnews.com/article/major-league-cricket-america-twenty20-fbd755b93611ac8bdab88509a9b11111" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Major League Cricket</a> premiering in the U.S. this summer, to high stakes rivalries currently playing out in the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/03/sports/cricket/cricket-world-cup-explained.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Cricket World Cup</a>, the so-called <a href="https://archive.nytimes.com/india.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/10/is-cricket-really-a-gentlemans-game/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Gentleman’s Game</a> of the <a href="https://www.icc-cricket.com/about/cricket/history-of-cricket/early-cricket" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">17th century</a> is exploding in growth in Greater Boston thanks to local immigrant communities. </p> <p>"There's now opportunities for men, w