About Us
- Kartik Shah (Lexington, MA)
- Adil Waqar (Grafton, MA)
- Hiren Kakkad (Lexington, MA)
- Elango Govindan (Arlington, MA)
Former members of the EC:
- Chirag Bhatt (Newton, MA), 2023
- Daniel Patience (Arlington, MA), 2023
Scroll below to read more about the organizers or Contact us: gboscricket@gmail.com
Kartik Shah:
Cricket is in my blood, literally.
My dad (Arvind Shah) was a well-known cricketer in the Bombay circuit in the late 80s, winning multiple Man of the Series (aka MVP) or Bowler of the Tournament awards in Kanga League, Times Shield etc. and making his way to Ranji probables. A freak back injury in the outfield during a late monsoon game ended his chances of an international career. His illustrious colleagues continued on to win laurels for themselves and country - Ashok Mankad, Eknath Solkar, Sandeep Patil, Abey Kuruvilla etc.
He continues to play and coach kids back home in India and now here in the US.
My mom (Vasanti Shah) on the other hand was part of the first women's inter-collegiate cricket team (Hyderabad) to play against a visiting New Zealand Women's team. This is back in the mid-70s, when it was culturally inappropriate for women to even wear pants, let alone run around on the cricket field. Times have changed and how :). Women's cricket has grown considerably and for the better.
I myself played at various levels before giving up cricket to pursue science :). When I moved to the US, I continued playing in local leagues, representing Massachusetts in a few games and even helping others organize local training and competitive tournaments.
While our days of competitive cricket are bygone, my family still coaches kids at various levels. We want to bring our passion for cricket to kids around the Greater Boston area.
Adil Waqar:
Born in Buffalo, NY, I actually grew up in Karachi, Pakistan and it was only natural for cricket to become my favorite sport - growing up in the 90s during the era when the Pakistan team lifted the ODI world cup and having legends such as Wasim Akram & Waqar Younis that my friends & I admired and tried to mimick their bowling actions. However, my true passion for the game strengthened after sensational & game-changing stars Shahid Afridi and Shoaib Akhtar took the world by a storm.
I came back to the U.S. in the mid-2000s for my Business degree and ever since have stayed here in the beautiful state of MA - continuing to pursue recreational cricket during the weekends & evenings and developing decades-long friendships and bonds in the process.
My aim is to keep the love of cricket thriving in our local communities and pass on the spirit of this game to our future generation.
Daniel Patience:
I was born in New Zealand and grew up in Wellington during the 80s and 90s idolizing cricket legends like Martin Crowe and Richard Hadlee, watching and playing as much cricket as I could, even falling asleep to radio commentary late at night when New Zealand toured England. I moved to the USA in the mid 90s for graduate school, but never lost sight of the love of the game, following games on the web and always finding someone I could discuss results with. I appreciate cricket because it is a game that does not necessarily need 11 superstars on your team of which you only need 3 or 4 to perform and win a game. New Zealand cricket on the other hand hasn’t had that luxury and has had to find other ways to win, carving out victory as a team using smart coaches, cricketers and captains like Stephen Fleming, Brendon McCullum and Kane Williamson. I like to apply that philosophy in my game, in work and in life.
Having moved to Massachusetts in 2016, it has been fun to reconnect playing cricket and sharing the joy of the game.
Chirag Bhatt:
Call me another cricket enthusiast! Very passionate about it and obsessed with the technicalities of the sport.
I was born in Bombay (Mumbai now), India, spent the growing up years in 4 countries – India, Oman, Bahrain and the USA. Moved to the US in 2001 for graduate study and have been in the Boston area since 2007. This is my home now!
As a child, I did not play cricket until I was 9 (unlike most kids around me). But then I fell in love when I picked up the bat for the first time after which there was no turning back. I played a lot, watched a lot. Lot of gully cricket every day. My favorite was when we played hours and hours of box cricket where you batted until you got out. Still wish I could get to play such a format (yes, I love Test Cricket as much I like to watch a T20). I was also very fascinated by fast bowling. I remember as a kid imitating the bowling actions of Manoj Prabhakar, Merv Hughes, Patrick Patterson and the likes. I picked up a lot of skills during my club cricket days in Bahrain where I was around some of the brains who coached professional cricket. Although, I wished I had more of their time.
My days of bowling super-fast are well past me but I continue to enjoy bowling fast (or at least as fast as I can 😊).
While I continue to play cricket in various amateur and recreational forms, I have now also divided my passion towards coaching the younger generation and promoting the sport in this country. In this due process, I got myself certified as an American Cricket Federation (ACF) Level 3 Coach. I have been coaching cricket to kids ages 6-14 for about 6 years now and I truly love it. I hope to continue coaching for as long as I can.
All for Cricket, Cricket for all!!
Hiren Kakkad:
I cherished the game of cricket while growing up in South Bombay, playing in the 'gully' daily & on gymkhana grounds during the weekend. Watching India lift the World Cup in 1983, on my community television, is a childhood cricket memory. Although I was born in the Sachin Tendulkar generation, I’ve always been a fan of stylish Mohammad Azharuddin.
While focusing on being an engineer in my late teens and later starting graduate school here in the US, playing cricket became an irregular and distant routine. But the love of the game kept flickering… With the Sourav Ganguly era and most recently Rohit Sharma & the T20 format, cricket nowadays is one of the major sports we watch on the television at home.
I have lived in the Boston area since 2005, and now our family calls the beautiful town of Lexington our home. With my son being introduced to the game of cricket, during our regular visits back home (India), the next phase of my cricket journey started 7+ years ago, when I started coaching & helping kids to love & enjoy cricket.
Nowadays I indulge myself playing (recreational) and organizing cricket. Doing that I have built some great relationships and my goal is to keep paying it forward.
