Wicket passion: Local fans avidly following Cricket World Cup

A Tidewater Cricket Club practice game at Hindu Temple in Chesapeake. (Hyunsoo Leo Kim / The Virginian-Pilot)

By Gillian Gaynair
The Virginian-Pilot

NORFOLK - Along with some 40 others, Swatee Paithankar was fixated on a big-screen television at Old Dominion University's Webb Center. Every few minutes she clapped and yelled, "Awesome! Awesome!"

The engineering management student had a doctor's appointment earlier, and afterward decided that this broadcast from Trinidad was more important than the rest of her day's obligations.

It is, after all, the Cricket World Cup, which began March 13 and runs through April 28. Among fans, fervor for cricket rivals Americans' passion during the Super Bowl or Hispanics' during World Cup futbol.

Just days into this year's championship, the excitement was dulled by disappointment and shock among one population of fans: Hours after Pakistan's team lost to Ireland, its coach was found dead in his Kingston, Jamaica, hotel room. The case is being treated as a homicide and has gained cricketers unexpected attention from non-fans worldwide.

On this day last week at ODU, though, the prevailing spirit was joy. Paithankar's homeland, India, was creaming Bermuda.

"I've been watching this game since I was a child," and playing it too, she said, adding that back home, she'd likely be snacking on hot samosas while cheering for her team. "You can go without meals, but you don't want to miss your World Cup. Getting to watch it in this country means a lot."

For many of Hampton Roads' native South Asians - as well as West Indians, Australians and Britons - the international championship offers a taste of home.

Nearly 4,400 Asian Indians and more than 8,200 people of West Indian heritage, excluding Hispanics, live in Hampton Roads, according to the U.S. census.

"Even religion isn't the common thread in India," said Virginia Beach's Dipendra Sengupta, president of the Hampton Roads Cricket Organization. "The common thread is cricket."

Clifford Simpson is captain and president of United Islands Cricket Club, a local team made up mostly of people of West Indian descent. He's been playing since childhood.

"I really don't know any other sports," Simpson said.

In his native Jamaica, cricket matches in the park were usually accompanied by plates of jerk chicken or steamed fish, and sometimes a side game of dominoes. These days, Simpson catches the World Cup on satellite TV in his restaurant, MP International Cafe, where island food is within reach.

"From the moment I came here, I know I'm going to have to watch my cricket, so I got my satellite," he said. "So I always stay in touch with it."

The sport has its roots in England, which brought the tradition to nations it colonized, such as Jamaica. Similar to baseball, it's a game of balls and bats, with the aim of the bowler's team (a bowler is like a pitcher) to out each opposing batsman. Each team numbers 11. The winning crew is the one that scores the most runs by the end of a match.

The Cricket World Cup started in 1973 with a women's championship. The men's World Cup began in England in 1975 and, like the women's, has been held every four years.

The West Indies is hosting the men's competition this year, with matches being played in islands throughout the Caribbean. T he matches are often all-day affairs, smack-dab in the middle of working hours. For many local fans, that means doling out a bit of cash to watch the competitions through the Internet or on satellite TV.

At ODU, members of the Indian Student Association booked the Webb Center venue in December and applied to the Student Government Association for funding. In the past, Indian association members had sought donations from professors and the community, and collected a fee from students who wanted to watch, said Vinod Agarwal, an ODU professor and faculty advise r to the Indian Student Association.

This year, the association persuaded the university's student leaders that temporarily expanding their TV service to access the games would benefit hundreds of students. The leaders funded the service for $3,000.

"Sixteen countries are playing in the World Cup this time, and each country has students here, so we spoke on behalf of all student organizations who had representatives here," said Nakul Ramanna, president of the Indian Student Association.

"It feels so great," he said. "We miss this game so much."