UCLA students watch as India wins cricket world cup
By Kavitha Subramanian
April 4, 2011 1:27 a.m.
Bharat Kapadia contemplated staying in India for the first few days of spring quarter to watch one of the biggest cricket matches of the year.
However, the start of classes pulled him back to Los Angeles, where, like in the rest of the United States, cricket’s popularity is low.
That didn’t deter Kapadia and other friends from watching the final game between India and Sri Lanka as they would at home, even if it meant waking up at 2 a.m. for the eight-hour match.
Kapadia and about 30 others met in Hedrick Fireside Lounge to view the game.
Some attendees left midway to catch up on sleep, but many returned to see the final few plays. There were at least 15 diehard fans who stayed alert the entire night, said Kapadia, a second-year business economics student.
Cricket originated in England far before baseball became America’s pastime and has since spread to many nations around the world, such as South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Pakistan.
In a match, each 11-person team has one inning during which a bowler from the opposing team pitches the ball to a batsman.
Once the ball is hit, two batsmen run back and forth between the two ends of the pitch as many times as possible before the bowler or catcher ““ called a wicket keeper ““ get the ball back.
A team’s inning is over when 10 batsmen are out or when 300 pitches are complete.
India advanced to the finals and beat Sri Lanka on Saturday for the world cup championship title.
Kapadia was one of many students who hosted viewing parties on the Hill that night to bring cricket fans together for the biggest match in four years. Many of the groups brought India supporters and Sri Lanka supporters together, which led to friendly rivalry between the two parties.
Raqeeb Thameem, a second-year aerospace engineering student who plays with the UCLA Cricket Club, was one of many students who attended Kapadia’s viewing party on the Hill.
Originally from Chennai, India, Thameem lived in Sri Lanka for eight years. He remains loyal to India and proudly wore his India jersey on the day of the match.
Unlike at the games he attended in Sri Lanka, Thameem was among his fellow fans this time around.
Dinali Wijewarnasuriya, a third-year molecular, cell and developmental biology student, went home for the weekend to watch the game with her family and family friends.
Wijewarnasuriya’s parents grew up in Sri Lanka and taught her how to play cricket as a child.
“I played when I was younger with my dad and his friends,” she said. “But I just recently started watching cricket.”
Growing up in the United States, Wijewarnasuriya said she noticed a difference in passion between cricket fans and American sports fans.
“(Sri Lankans) are more passionate about it, because it’s really the only main game around,” Wijewarnasuriya said. “All that passion, all that energy will go into that one game.”
The energy at her home emerged at the end of the game, when India and Sri Lanka were very close.
Although she and her family were very disappointed with Sri Lanka’s loss, Wijewarnasuriya said she was happy India won after more than 20 years.
Meanwhile at UCLA, Kapadia and his friends were celebrating India’s victory.
The moment the match ended, several students ran around the campus in a lap of victory, while fans in India were doing almost the same thing.
“Everyone went crazy when we won,” Kapadia said. “People from India were calling us constantly to talk about it.”
