On a cool Sunday afternoon in May, Anjum Sabar, the captain of Pak America Cricket Club, observed his team playing against Hawks Cricket Club on a grassy field at Eisenhower Park in Long Island, New York. The match was part of New York’s Commonwealth Cricket League (CCL) and was taking place near the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium, which is one of the venues for the ongoing ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.
As workers put the final touches on the purpose-built stadium, which is set to host cricket matches featuring teams like India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh, two teams consisting of semi-professional cricketers of South Asian descent competed nearby. Sabar, a 43-year-old businessman who moved to the US from Pakistan in 1998, started playing cricket with Pak America a year after his arrival. His wife, Sadaf Sabar, knows not to ask for his help on weekends as he spends his Sundays playing the game he grew up with in Pakistan at various parks in New York.
In Pakistan, cricket matches were always watched on television at the Sabar family home in Sialkot, a city known for being the country’s top sports equipment manufacturing center. Sabar reminisces about never having been to a stadium to watch a match, as they would watch games on TV and play on the streets like many Pakistani kids.
Sami Khan, a teammate of Sabar’s, takes a break on the cricket ground at Kissena Park in Queens, New York after a match on a sunny day. The T20 World Cup has brought cricket back “home” for New York’s South Asian community, providing a sense of nostalgia and connection to their roots through the game they love.