Madison High School Student Writes Book To Help Popularize Cricket

VIENNA, VA — While baseball may be the most well-known bat-and-ball sport in the U.S., there's a similar sport that is centuries older: cricket. The sport of cricket is internationally popular and is growing in the U.S. To help more Americans become familiar with the sport, James Madison High School student Jai Elhance has published a book.

Elhance told Patch his book, "Cover Point-A beginner's Guide to Cricket," was released about a month ago, providing an introduction to the sport in a way newcomers can understand. The book details the different equipment, rules of the game and different game formats to help people learn how to play or watch international cricket matches.

"I'm someone who loves cricket, and I really want to see it grow and become popular, become mainstream, here in the US," Elhance told Patch. "And so with that sort of idea in mind, I wrote this book 'Cover Point-Beginner's Guide to Cricket' with the sense that it's supposed to be more of an easy read for anyone who wants to learn about cricket, who wants to get into the game."

Elhance first got into cricket as a 10-year-old watching the 2017 Champions Trophy tournament with his grandfather. He hadn't watched the sport beforehand but fell in love with it while watching a few games. Elhance started playing cricket through some of the DC region's youth leagues.

Today, he focuses more on the commentary side of cricket. Elhance commentates on games locally and nationally and serves as a media manager for different teams' tournaments. He also runs a radio show and podcast called Cric Talk with Jai to discuss all things cricket.

"With all these, cricket it's something I love. It's something I love to do, be involved with, and really growing the game in the US is something I'd love to see," said Elhance.

On the expansion of the sport in the U.S., more leagues and facilities popping up helps support future growth. Elhance says the World Cup happening this month is being co-hosted by the U.S. Co-hosting the tournament and the U.S. team performing well helps bring more traction to the game, he says.

Elhance started writing his cricket book in his freshman year at Madison High School, and it took two years to complete. He started the process by writing down ideas he wanted to get across. From there, it was refining ideas, adding new things, incorporating visuals.

Heading into his senior year, Elhance will balance his passion for cricket with the college admissions process. Wherever he ends up, Elhance will enter college as a published author, all thanks to his passion for growing the sport of cricket.

"It feels great, because I put in a lot of hard work into this book, two years, and to finally see it done, published and available for other people to get, so that they can get into cricket, so that they can learn about cricket, it's really amazing to see that," said Elhance.