Why Do You Think Cricket Is The Most Popular Sport In India And Pakistan

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Aug 3, 2024, 5:17:39 PM8/3/24

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And now, it's time for cricket. While it's not often we get to the world's second most popular sport, there was just huge news today. Team USA just pulled off one of the biggest upsets in the sport's history. They beat Pakistan in super over - the baseball equivalent of extra innings - in group play in this year's World Cup. And just to put this into an American sports context, Pakistan losing to the U.S. is like the Boston Red Sox losing to the Durham Bulls. And Pakistan's fans, like, took it really hard. Joining us here in studio to discuss this big moment is NPR's Ammad Omar. Hi, there.

OMAR: This is a very big deal. Pakistan has a population of about 235 million people, and it's really the only sport that anyone there cares about. The players there are the biggest celebrities in the country. They're bigger than movie stars, musicians, politicians.

Now, one of the U.S.'s star players in this game, Saurabh Netravalkar - he's one of the top engineers at Oracle, the tech company in California - clearly a very talented guy, but maybe just a slightly different profile. Just for a bit of context, when Pakistan plays India in a tournament like this, it gets something like five to 10 times more viewers than the Super Bowl.

OMAR: So yeah, that tells you how big and popular this game is in other parts of the world. Pakistan made the finals of the World Cup in this format the last time around. They're one of the top countries that play this game in the world. The U.S. - this is just their second match in a World Cup, so they're just not a big player on the international stage.

But I don't want to lose sight of the fact that the USA winning is a huge deal here, too. They've gone through years and years of dysfunction as far as the administrators go. The World Cup is being held in the U.S. and some Caribbean countries really just to get the sport a foothold in this country, and the focus has been on whether the stadiums are up to international standards or if anyone even knew this was happening in the U.S. And now, hopefully, the focus will be on the team and their performances.

OMAR: I mean, simply put, they just played better. They were the better team. This was not a fluke today. Right out of the gate, the USA got three of Pakistan's best players out with some really good pitching - or bowling, as they call it - some excellent fielding. They dominated this game from the very beginning. And the fact that it even went to that super over, as they call it - or extra innings, as it were - that was kind of a surprise.

And then when it went to that super over, you thought, OK, maybe this is - the opportunity has slipped away. But then they dominated again, and, you know, it was a one-sided situation there. And they were the better team. There's no complaints that can be had.

SUMMERS: OK. Around 2.5 billion people around the world follow cricket, but I think it's fair to say that most Americans, including this host, do not know a whole lot about this sport. Do we have any sense if this win could be a turning point?

OMAR: I mean, I think that's got to be the hope for the administrators of cricket, not only in the U.S. but around the world. This is kind of one of the last bastions that they're trying to capture as far as markets go. You know, this afternoon, after the match ended, this USA cricket match was the No. 1 trend on Twitter - or X, as it were - in the USA. So maybe, just maybe, people are paying attention here now.

You know, this sport is definitely popular when it comes to expats and people from other countries. A little anecdote for you - the starting 11 for the USA today - seven of the players were born in other countries, just four in the U.S. The other seven were born in India, Pakistan, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa.

But hopefully, now that this event happened, more people might be paying attention to the game, and I think the hope is that it will grow the game. And the way the USA played today - I think they'll definitely gain some fans of people that were watching because they played really well.

OMAR: Well, in this tournament, they'll play India up next, and they're the real big powerhouse - the pre-tournament favorites. That match is next week on Wednesday, and then they play Ireland after that. And if they finish in the top two in their group, they'll move on to the next round of the tournament.

They're looking like they're in really good shape to do that. They've already beaten Canada earlier this week. So if they win probably one of the next two games, they should have a really good chance of making it to the next round. That's in the short-term. And I think the real question that people are going to be looking at is, long-term, what comes next for the USA - not only as a team, but as a kind of sport in this country. And, again, I think the hope is that this will be a launchpad for the game and the team here.

Cricket is the second-most popular sport in the world, with global appeal in South Asian countries, the West Indies, England, New Zealand and South Africa, to name a few. For many immigrant communities, cricket is a part of their culture.

Cricket was once one of this country's most popular sports until baseball became entrenched as America's game during the Civil War. Now the sport that was first played in England is seeing a resurgence here, thanks in part to thriving South Asian immigrant communities who revere the game. Amna Nawaz takes us inside the world of wickets, stumps, batters and bowlers.

It's game day in Germantown, Maryland. Players warming up, parents settling in on the sidelines and the unmistakable sound of summer in America, the crack of bat against ball. But it's not baseball that brought these crowds out today. It's cricket.

On this Sunday, two local youth cricket academies are squaring off. Those are the Mavericks in red and the Jaguars in blue. One of the first batters up for the Jaguars is 12-year-old Aakash Venkatesh, whose journey to cricket was a long one. What was your first sport?

A spark fanned into an all-consuming main passion by his parents, including mom Sunitha, who dutifully drives Aakash and big brother Adithya to dozens of matches every year across Maryland and Virginia.

Venkatesh Kumar, Father of Adithya Venkatesh: I started playing cricket right when I was probably eight or nine years old, and had a dream built around cricket. One day I wanted to be a cricket player.

We introduced them to all American sports initially. They try tennis, soccer, basketball, swimming, but after a couple of weeks, the energy died down, and cricket was the last sport that was introduced to them.

Cricket was invented in 17th century England and spread across the globe with the British Empire arriving in Australia, the West Indies and India by the 18th century. The game is played on a 360-degree field with batters on one team trying to score runs by hitting the ball past fielders and a pitcher known as a bowler on the opposing team, all while protecting their wickets from the ball.

A lot of resources being poured into building stadiums and actually like making sure that there is infrastructure in place and resources in place to develop something from scratch and get people excited here.

It's not the traditional image of cricket that many people in America had, which lasts several days. And you know, there's people dressed in white clothes and sit down for a cup of tea and wait for lunch and so on.

The league, featuring six teams from across the country, was a passion project for Srinivasan. He founded a live streaming cricket channel in the early 2000s, which showed him there was a viewer base in the U.S. hungry for elite competition. This season sold out most games and Srinivasan says there are plans to build more stadiums and infrastructure.

That's going to change the landscape for cricket, hugely in this country. And hopefully with the Cricket World Cup coming to the U.S. next year. It's going to be a very different picture a few years from now.

At the moment. I'm excited you know because I mean now like the cricket here is getting a lot better. So at the end of the day if we become like a like a great nation in cricket, we might be rivaling up against India, Pakistan, those kinds of teams that it's going to be fun.

JUANA SUMMERS, HOST: And now, it's time for cricket. While it's not often we get to the world's second most popular sport, there was just huge news today. Team USA just pulled off one of the biggest upsets in the sport's history. They beat Pakistan in super over - the baseball equivalent of extra innings - in group play in this year's World Cup. And just to put this into an American sports context, Pakistan losing to the U.S. is like the Boston Red Sox losing to the Durham Bulls. And Pakistan's fans, like, took it really hard. Joining us here in studio to discuss this big moment is NPR's Ammad Omar. Hi, there.AMMAD OMAR, BYLINE: Hey, how's it going?SUMMERS: It is going good. OK, help me out here. Just how big of a deal is this Pakistan loss?OMAR: This is a very big deal. Pakistan has a population of about 235 million people, and it's really the only sport that anyone there cares about. The players there are the biggest celebrities in the country. They're bigger than movie stars, musicians, politicians.Now, one of the U.S.'s star players in this game, Saurabh Netravalkar - he's one of the top engineers at Oracle, the tech company in California - clearly a very talented guy, but maybe just a slightly different profile. Just for a bit of context, when Pakistan plays India in a tournament like this, it gets something like five to 10 times more viewers than the Super Bowl.SUMMERS: Wow.OMAR: So yeah, that tells you how big and popular this game is in other parts of the world. Pakistan made the finals of the World Cup in this format the last time around. They're one of the top countries that play this game in the world. The U.S. - this is just their second match in a World Cup, so they're just not a big player on the international stage.But I don't want to lose sight of the fact that the USA winning is a huge deal here, too. They've gone through years and years of dysfunction as far as the administrators go. The World Cup is being held in the U.S. and some Caribbean countries really just to get the sport a foothold in this country, and the focus has been on whether the stadiums are up to international standards or if anyone even knew this was happening in the U.S. And now, hopefully, the focus will be on the team and their performances.SUMMERS: OK, I've got a lot of questions here, the first one being, how exactly did the U.S. pull this off?OMAR: I mean, simply put, they just played better. They were the better team. This was not a fluke today. Right out of the gate, the USA got three of Pakistan's best players out with some really good pitching - or bowling, as they call it - some excellent fielding. They dominated this game from the very beginning. And the fact that it even went to that super over, as they call it - or extra innings, as it were - that was kind of a surprise.And then when it went to that super over, you thought, OK, maybe this is - the opportunity has slipped away. But then they dominated again, and, you know, it was a one-sided situation there. And they were the better team. There's no complaints that can be had.SUMMERS: OK. Around 2.5 billion people around the world follow cricket, but I think it's fair to say that most Americans, including this host, do not know a whole lot about this sport. Do we have any sense if this win could be a turning point?OMAR: I mean, I think that's got to be the hope for the administrators of cricket, not only in the U.S. but around the world. This is kind of one of the last bastions that they're trying to capture as far as markets go. You know, this afternoon, after the match ended, this USA cricket match was the No. 1 trend on Twitter - or X, as it were - in the USA. So maybe, just maybe, people are paying attention here now.You know, this sport is definitely popular when it comes to expats and people from other countries. A little anecdote for you - the starting 11 for the USA today - seven of the players were born in other countries, just four in the U.S. The other seven were born in India, Pakistan, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa.But hopefully, now that this event happened, more people might be paying attention to the game, and I think the hope is that it will grow the game. And the way the USA played today - I think they'll definitely gain some fans of people that were watching because they played really well.SUMMERS: Yeah. You've certainly got me hooked. All right, last thing here - what comes next for Team USA?OMAR: Well, in this tournament, they'll play India up next, and they're the real big powerhouse - the pre-tournament favorites. That match is next week on Wednesday, and then they play Ireland after that. And if they finish in the top two in their group, they'll move on to the next round of the tournament.They're looking like they're in really good shape to do that. They've already beaten Canada earlier this week. So if they win probably one of the next two games, they should have a really good chance of making it to the next round. That's in the short-term. And I think the real question that people are going to be looking at is, long-term, what comes next for the USA - not only as a team, but as a kind of sport in this country. And, again, I think the hope is that this will be a launchpad for the game and the team here.SUMMERS: All right, Ammad, thanks for giving me another sport to follow.OMAR: Oh, yep.SUMMERS: That is NPR's Ammad Omar.(SOUNDBITE OF TERRACE MARTIN SONG, "THIS MORNING")