Lengthy Island, New York — On a cool Sunday afternoon in Could, Anjum Sabar – captain of PakAmerica Cricket Membership – watched on as his staff batted in opposition to Hawks Cricket Membership on a grassy area at Eisenhower Park in Lengthy Island, New York.
The match – a part of New York’s Commonwealth Cricket League (CCL) – was being performed a stone’s throw away from what’s now the Nassau County Worldwide Cricket Stadium, one of many venues for the in-progress ICC Males’s T20 World Cup.
As employees utilized ending touches to the purpose-built modular stadium – set to host cricket’s South Asian powerhouses India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh – two groups comprising semi-professional cricketers of South Asian heritage performed the sport close by.
Sabar, a 43-year-old businessman, migrated to america from Pakistan in 1998 and started enjoying cricket with PakAmerica a 12 months later. Sadaf Sabar, his spouse of 14 years, is aware of higher than to ask him for a serving to hand on weekends as a result of each Sunday, Sabar heads out to totally different parks in New York to play the sport he grew up with in Pakistan.
“Again residence” cricket matches had been at all times watched on the tv at his household residence in Sialkot, a northeastern Pakistani metropolis that’s famend because the nation’s main sports activities gear manufacturing hub.
“I’ve by no means been to the stadium to look at a match,” Sabar tells Al Jazeera whereas watching his PakAmerica teammates.
“We watched the sport on TV and performed it within the streets – like all Pakistani youngsters do.”
Cricket followers – outdated and new
It’s a related story for a lot of South Asian cricketers who now name New York residence and play the sport to remain related to their roots.
For Sabar and his buddies, cricket again residence meant gathering cash to purchase tennis balls for his or her tape-ball video games on the streets; operating backwards and forwards in chappals (slippers) as buddies yelled “aik aur, aik aur” (yet one more run) from the sidelines and speeding again residence earlier than the night maghrib prayer.
Now, these neighbourhood cricket matches come alive when the South Asian diaspora gathers in New York’s parks after every week of life’s rat race.
Again at Eisenhower Park, the PakAmerica vs Hawks CC sport had an surprising spectator.
Mike Niewender, a bemused 56-year-old from the prosperous New Hyde Park village in Lengthy Island, watched on from the automobile park.
“I don’t perceive the sport,” Niewender instructed Al Jazeera as he smoked a cigar leaning up in opposition to his heavy bike.
“I’m attempting to determine it out alone earlier than I see one thing on social media or examine it,” he mentioned searching in the direction of the pitch.
“I drive out right here each Sunday and watch the sport. I got here throughout the sport final summer time and now, I come right here each weekend to loosen up on my Sunday.”
Maintaining cricket alive in New York
Cricket has been round in New York for 44 years. The CCL got here collectively in New York in 1979 and includes greater than 120 golf equipment, in accordance with Lengthy Island group chief Imran Pasha, who grew up enjoying cricket in Hyderabad, India.
He claims that “each kind of cricket match” is performed in New York. “From hard-ball to soft-ball to tape-ball to hard-tennis – all the pieces.”
Now, New York is enjoying host to a lot higher-profile and higher-stakes matches.
Final 12 months, the US bagged internet hosting rights for 16 of the 53 T20 World Cup 2024 matches, together with, arguably the most important one barring the ultimate: India vs Pakistan.
Lengthy Island’s modular stadium, which got here collectively piece by piece over the previous few months, can maintain roughly 40,000 spectators. It’s anticipated to fill as much as capability come June 9.
In 2023, the ICC had chosen a location within the Bronx to arrange the stadium, however group members and native leaders raised environmental issues and demanded a public assessment of an environmental research earlier than the approval of the stadium. The approval would have needed to undergo a public assessment course of which might have taken as much as six months, prompting the ICC to maneuver to Lengthy Island, in accordance with Pasha.
“Lengthy Island has the area and the atmosphere to host one thing as massive and spectacular because the World Cup,” he tells Al Jazeera.
The 45-year-old performs for the Lengthy Island Cricket Membership within the native league. He has been working with Nassau County’s native subcommittee that liaises with the ICC on issues associated to internet hosting the eight New York-based matches.
A software program engineer by career, Pasha is happy concerning the alternatives that the World Cup matches might carry for the native cricket group, in addition to companies throughout Nassau County.
“We work laborious to maintain the golf equipment as skilled as doable by means of native sponsorships, educated umpires, kits, gear, park permits,” he mentioned.
“[These things] take money and time, however we come collectively and check out our greatest.”
Pasha is banking on the World Cup to “change the dynamics of how cricket is acquired in New York”.
“The stadium alone has introduced much-needed consideration to the native golf equipment – consideration they’ve been ready and hoping to realize for a while.”
Inspiring the subsequent technology
Pasha, who is thought in the area people for his honesty and laborious work, hopes the match can have a domino impact on the native cricket scene.
“It might result in [proper] scouting alternatives for staff USA and organising inter-state matches – much like how cricket is performed in different international locations,” he defined.
Others, like Neville Kunjravia, see the World Cup as a networking alternative. The 34-year-old has been mastering the position of a cricket umpire for years and hopes that the ICC will take notice. His dream is to umpire coveted matches, such because the World Cup.
He umpired the PakAmerica-Hawks CC match sporting a navy blue floppy hat – much like the one utilized in cricket umpiring.
For Ali Zafar, who owns the one identified cricket gear store – Zar Sports activities – in Lengthy Island, it’s a feeling of pleasure and pleasure that cricket is lastly coming “residence” for him and different South Asian diaspora like him.
“The World Cup was at all times held some other place and I by no means had an opportunity to go watch a sport or be a part of the thrill,” he mentioned.
The 38-year-old was not in a position to purchase tickets for the video games in New York, however he hopes the presence of the world’s largest cricket gamers will “entice the youthful technology to the sport”.
“All of us carry our children to our [local] video games, however that’s totally different from them wanting to hitch as gamers.”
Sabar, the PakAmerica captain, has excessive hopes pinned on the match, too.
“I actually wish to see youthful folks have the identical ardour for the sport as us,” he mentioned.
“I hope they preserve the stadium right here for the native groups, in order that youthful generations get to get pleasure from cricket the best way we do.”
