INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – A cricket stadium may be built in Indianapolis by next year. That’s what some newspapers in India are reporting Mayor Greg Ballard told a group of business leaders during an overseas visit Tuesday.

“What were talking about is investing 4 or 5 world class international athletic fields, said Mayoral spokesman Marc Lotter.

It was a story put out by the Times of India with the headline ‘Indianapolis plans to build a cricket stadium’ that had Hoosiers scratching their head.

Lotter says the “stadium” is actually part of the Indianapolis World Sports Park a facility in the works on the city’s eastside.“These are basically going to be world class athletic fields where we can host a multiple kind of sports lacrosse curling rugby cricket and really turn those into an asset for the city,”

Jatin Patel is the president of the Indiana Cricket association and also played the sport professionally in the US and his home country of India.

He supports the mayor’s efforts to build the facility and bid to host next years United States Amateur Cricket Championship.

“We have Indy 500 top world event our city has had so many sports in the past that we have had successful business and this is another international sport we can bring into this town,”

Cricket is the world’s second most popular sport behind soccer.

Both Patel and the Mayor believe adopting international sports like cricket will make Indianapolis more attractive to international businesses and talent.

wishtv.com