‘Cricket-just like Baseball, only cooler,’ gentleman's game bonds Indian-American fans in Long Island
Indian-Americans celebrate as India beats the USA in the T-20 World Cup at Nassau County International Cricket Stadium.
Rohit Sharma led India may have easily beaten the USA in the T-20 cricket World Cup on Wednesday, but the true winners were the throngs of Indian-Americans who experienced the match at Nassau County International Cricket Stadium on Long Island.
The 34000strong stadium saw supporters carrying signs with “USA is home. India is heart” and “I live in the US but my heart always belongs to India.”
Indian supporters swarmed the less rambunctious crowd at Long Island’s Eisenhower Park, 97-3.
On June 12, both teams entered the match undefeated. But with the Sun at the back, Suryakumar Yadav batted India to the win.
And with that India secured a decisive victory over the US by seven wickets, advancing to the “super eight” round. The US team still has a chance to advance if they defeat Ireland on Friday.
Turning to the fans
One of the Indian supporters, Ankur Barot, 39, attended the game with his 13-year-old son, who supported the Aaron Jones boys. Barot, however, displayed his allegiance to India with an Indian flag over his head while his son held a sign reading “Dad vs. Son” and waved the stars and stripes.
“When the US was doing well, he was excited and I was upset, and vice-versa,” said Barot, told the New York Post,
Barot was born in India but became an American after serving six years in the Army.
“Yesterday, my son told me he wanted to support the US, not India. India is my home country but if you want to go for the US, that’s fine,” he said.
“It broke my heart a little bit, but he is American and he loves the US.”
“We are so proud of the American cricket team. They are fantastic. They hustle, they play hard. Today they played their hearts out,” said Bobby Singh Grewal, 51, who moved to America from India in 1995.
Mayank Kohli, a 30-year-old first-generation Indian-American from Philadelphia, also told the outlet, “I gotta go for the US because, it’s a home game and I gotta rep,” Kohli said.
“But low key, I got my India shirt on underneath, so I win either way.”
Internet is loving India vs USA
Some cricket fans took to X (formerly Twitter) to show their affection for the cricket. One such fan shared on the platform how his father surprised him with the USA vs Indian match tickets.
“My father suprised me with tickets to the USA 🇺🇸 vs India 🇮🇳cricket match!!What a great game it was!” the X user posted, along with a pic of him and his father holding the US and Indian flag, respectively.
One fan posted a picture holding a sign that reads, “Cricket-just like Baseball, only cooler.”
