On the Cricket Field

Last Friday afternoon, I attended my first cricket match.

Now keep in mind, I grew up in the USA. No one that I knew had the remotest interest in the sport, much less the inclination to learn. The handful of Indians and Pakistanis I went to school with never brought up the sport, which is apparently the second most popular sport in the world, after football/soccer. Surprisingly, the USA does indeed have its own cricket association.

My first encounter with the game came last year, when I moved to Qatar. Two friends at school, one Indian and one Pakistani, were arguing over some match that was taking place that evening, and I had the remotest idea of what was going on. The Bleacher Report, by the way, describes India and Pakistan’s cricket rivalry as the “biggest on earth.”
In the spirit of sociological research, I decided to attend last Friday’s match (Georgetown v. Texas A&M) mostly out of curiosity and intrigue.

Held every Friday in the QF busses parking lot, teams of EC students get together and play until the sun begins to set (and the ball is no longer visible). In this game, university rivalry trumps national and ethnic divisions. Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, and one white guy gathered on the playing field to spend an afternoon, the entire afternoon. I had heard rumors, but I never realized just how long cricket matches last. Just like long Bollywood films, the shortest of cricket matches (called Twenty20) are 2.5 hours long. The traditional form of cricket takes place over the course of 5 days. In film, we justified long movies through indoor access to air conditioning, but cricket matches are held outdoors; the same logic doesn’t quite fit.
Given our latest discussion on the gender and power, I observed that cricket is definitely a gender-polarized game. It is like the South Asian version of American Football in the sense that everyone, males and females, watch and appreciate the sport, but only for the male teams. After a bit of research, I did find a few numbered female cricket teams but they are still nowhere near the popularity of male cricket. Aside from me, another female didn’t show up until about half an hour into the game.
I also noticed, that cricket, like most sports, involves a very ritualized pre-game build-up: the common practice of the team huddle to boost morale, the obligatory coin toss to decide team positions (in the field or batting). Only then, can the game begin.

Prior to Friday, my own constructed understanding of cricket was, “it’s kind of like baseball.” Well, yes and no. In the past, when someone tried to explain the game of cricket to me, the explanation flew over my head. When I sat down and watched the game, however, the running commentary of what was going on made so much more sense. For full rules, see here. I can’t explain the game to someone else… yet… but I get the gist. Two batters, a bowler, teams of 11 in the outfield, avoiding the wicket, shouting “four” or “six”, batters switching places and gaining runs… It clicks.

*Photos taken by Omer Mohammed and Florent D'Souza