Cricket in the States
Product Design
About the project
Type
Thesis, End-to-end UX Case Study
Role
Product Designer
Year
2024-2025
Tools
Figma, Framer, Adobe Suite
Context and Problem
Despite a South Asian immigrant population of over 6 million in the U.S., finding casual cricket games is still surprisingly difficult. Organized leagues are available, but they often require long-term commitment, involve significant travel, and come with high costs. As a result, casual players are left with very few accessible or affordable options.
Project Goals
The goal of this project is to explore the current state of cricket in the U.S. and better understand the needs of the South Asian immigrant community. It also aims to help people easily find places to play and connect with others who enjoy the game.
The Solution
The Gully Cricket mobile app makes it easy to play casual cricket in the U.S. by offering on-demand venue booking, effortless pickup game discovery and joining, and a karma-based loyalty system that discourages no-shows, late arrivals, and poor sportsmanship.
Impact
Initial testing of the Gully Cricket App demonstrated a 95% success rate with the target audience and achieved a Net Promoter Score (NPS) of 80. For the MVP, 17 out of 33 people who committed to attending showed up for the game. Additionally, 4 out of 5 soccer venues agreed to allow cricket to be played at their locations. The marketing campaign generated 200 page views, with a website conversion rate of 20%.
Background
Cricket is India's undisputed favorite sport, with approximately 17 percent of the population, or 240 million people, actively playing. From stadiums to local fields and narrow alleys, the game is deeply embedded in daily life across all ages and backgrounds.
Basketball, pickleball, and soccer are the most widely played sports in the U.S. Basketball leads with about 8% of Americans playing, followed by pickleball at 5% and soccer at 4%. These numbers reflect the nation's diverse sporting interests across ages, regions, and lifestyles.
Among all cricket-playing nations, individuals of Indian origin make up the largest immigrant diaspora in the United States, with a population of approximately 5.4 million. The sheer size of the Indian-American community has had a profound influence on the development and popularity of cricket in the U.S., fueling the rise of community leagues, youth academies, and even professional-level interest.
This diaspora not only maintains strong cultural ties to cricket but also plays a pivotal role in introducing the sport to a broader American audience.
Research Process
In my attempt to understand the challenges cricket players face in finding both teammates and suitable venues, I explored the current state of cricket infrastructure in the United States. This investigation led me to examine how existing opportunities for playing the sport often fall short of meeting the expectations and needs of cricket-loving individuals. From limited access to proper facilities to difficulties in organizing consistent matches, the landscape reveals several barriers that hinder the growth of the game for passionate players across the entire country.
Key Tasks - Research
Developed an Affinity map to systematically categorize the key challenges faced by users, helping to reveal underlying patterns and insights across their experiences.
Mind mapping enabled me to consolidate raw insights from both interviews and secondary research into a single visual framework, allowing for deeper exploration of each problem category.
Affinity Map
Developed an affinity map to systematically categorize the key challenges faced by users, helping to reveal underlying patterns and insights across their experiences.
Learnings:
Lack of cricket equipment
Difficulty finding players
Long distances to facilities dedicated to cricket
Mind Map
Mind Map allowed me to consolidate all the raw data from interviews and Secondary Research in one place, helping me explore each problem category in greater depth.
Root Cause Analysis
I applied the 5-Whys Method to uncover the root causes behind the challenges players faced. This helped me breakdown surface-level problems and identify the deeper, underlying issues affecting Cricket accessibility in the U.S.
Key Learnings:
Local Leagues are primarily driven by existing players who have established connections, routines, and familiarity with the teams and system.
This established network means that the needs of new players are often overlooked or deprioritized.
Key Insights from Interviews
9/13
Had no idea about any Local, University Leagues.
8/13
Never got an opportunity to play in the U.S.
10/13
Cited lack of gear and venue.
The Solution
The Gully Cricket App enables casual cricket players to book venues, connect with other players, and join pre-organized pick-up cricket games at their own convenience, while ensuring their personal data remains private.
Why Mobile App?
A mobile app offers a more accessible and scalable solution compared to traditional alternatives, reducing effort and uncertainty for users.
There’s proven opportunity in the market, with examples like GoodRec and Heyday Athletics demonstrating the app model’s success in organizing recreational sports.
The app enables efficient communication of game details and provides valuable player data that can be used to improve user experience and engagement.
App Features
The app’s flow closely mirrors the familiar process of event and movie booking, making it intuitive for users. By conducting interviews, building user personas, and creating journey maps, I was able to deeply understand my target audience and the kinds of apps they regularly use. This research helped me align the app’s structure and interactions with their existing habits and expectations, ensuring a smoother and more relatable user experience.
Wireframes
Storyboarding played a crucial role in the design process by revealing the routines, challenges, and needs of indoor cricket players and venue owners. It highlighted issues like scheduling conflicts, cancellations, and underused facilities while uncovering opportunities for meaningful improvements. This approach ensured the solution was intuitive, practical, and deeply aligned with users’ real-world experiences.
Storyboard
To bring these solutions to life in a way that’s both functional and easy to use, I started by designing a set of initial medium-fidelity wireframes. These wireframes act as a visual blueprint for the Gully Cricket App, outlining how each core feature would work and how users would interact with them.
Key Learnings
For a pick-up game to run smoothly, the host must take responsibility for clearly communicating any major changes—such as time, date, or location—before the game. Players should regularly check the game page for updates. Notifications will be key in reminding them.
Brand Identity
Gully Cricket is a bold and energetic brand that connects with casual cricket players by promoting flexibility, inclusivity, and community. Its playful and motivating tone builds excitement while staying clear and transparent in key interactions.
"Gully" means "street" in Hindi, and the bold, expressive visual identity reflects its raw, youthful energy.
The 'X' symbolizes a fielder’s position in cricket and marks Gully Cricket as the go-to destination for the sport in the U.S.
High Fidelity Designs
Initially, both core features of joining a game and booking a venue were placed in a single section with a subtle toggle that users often missed during testing. To improve clarity, I separated them into two clearly labeled sections on the home screen, one for pickup games and one for venue bookings.
Usability Testing
Usability tests revealed users liked the app's visual design, navigation, and found it easy to complete tasks. The app's information was clear, motivating, and the concept itself was interesting. While some users wanted more dog owner info and clarity on rewards, overall, they had a positive experience and would recommend it. Users particularly liked the look and feel, navigation, information architecture, and motivational aspects of the app.
Test data showed a clear spike in taps, help requests, and user errors specifically during the "Book a Venue" task, indicating that this step was a major point of confusion. Despite being the second most critical task in the overall flow, it created noticeable friction for users, with even the third participant failing to complete it successfully. This increase in user effort and reliance on support suggested that the interface or instructions were unclear, causing hesitation and missteps.
Market Validation
I carefully listed down all the assumptions I made regarding the Gully Cricket App’s potential as a viable business, covering areas like user adoption, venue partnerships, pricing strategies, and operational scalability. To better analyze and prioritize them, I placed each assumption on a Risky Assumption Matrix. This approach helped me visually identify which assumptions needed to be validated first and where to focus my efforts in reducing uncertainty, ultimately making the business model more robust and grounded in reality.
Risky Assumption
Commercial Turf Venues across the U.S. will agree to allow cricket at their facilities
Enough players will book games via the app each week to sustain the business.
XYZ Hypothesis
The host will organize at least one cricket game, provide equipment (tentatively), and ensure a minimum of 10 participants
At least 2/5 Commercial Turf Venues across the U.S. will agree to allow Cricket at their facilities
I believe that among those who view the landing page, at-least 5% will sign-up with their Email ID.
Results
The host successfully organized a cricket game, arranged equipment (tentatively), and 17 people attended
4/5 Commercial Turf Venues across the U.S. agreed to allow Cricket at their facilities
20.2% those who viewed the website, signed-up with their Email ID.
Organizing a Cricket Game
I connected with a host who efficiently organized the game, arranged equipment, secured a venue, and coordinated all logistics to make it happen smoothly. A dedicated WhatsApp group was created to unite cricket enthusiasts in Philadelphia, with polls used to decide the best date and time. Admin-only messaging kept communication clear. Despite just a week's notice, the strong turnout showed high interest and enthusiasm. We played three full matches filled with competition, teamwork, and laughter, creating an inclusive, welcoming atmosphere for players of all skill levels.
17
People showed up
3
Matches played in Total
33
People on Whatsapp Group
Emailing Soccer Venues
To explore repurposing indoor soccer facilities for cricket, I emailed five venue owners with a friendly, professional message proposing a casual cricket game booking. I acknowledged their focus on soccer, assured them equipment and setup would be handled independently, and asked about availability and their booking process. The outreach aimed not only to secure space but to test the flexibility of these venues and their openness to supporting alternative sports.
5
Venues Reached out to
4
Agreed to allow Cricket
1
Denied Cricket Request
Landing Page
I created a fake website using Framer and launched it as a playful yet strategic way to spark interest among cricket enthusiasts. The site was designed to look like an official event page, complete with match details and sign-up sections, giving it a professional and intriguing feel. To spread the word, I crafted a custom message and shared it in several WhatsApp and Facebook groups where I knew cricket lovers were active. The response was immediate, people were curious, amused, and excited, with many clicking through to explore what they thought might be a real league.
99
Total page visitors
20
Total Sign-ups
20.2%
Conversion Rate
Learning Outcomes
11/24 people who showed up to the Game on a Friday were working professionals. This shows significant interest in playing the game. 4/5 Venues agreed to host Cricket at their venue. There might be a possibility of talks about Business Partnerships. 20% Skin in the Game is a significantly high number for a Marketing Campaign’s Conversion rate.
Next Steps
UX Writing
Conduct both open and closed card sorts to improve word choice and UX writing for the app.
Equipment Distribution
Identify a better solution for organizing game equipment at scale across the U.S.
Price Point
The Current Price Point of $10 for a basic game needs to be tested in real time.
Usability Test
Conduct Usability Tests on the second iteration following the first round of tests.
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