Long Island, New York — On a chilly Sunday afternoon in May, Anjum Sabar – captain of the PakAmerica Cricket Club – watched his team play against the Hawks Cricket Club on a grass field in Eisenhower Park on Long Island, New York.

The match – part of New York's Commonwealth Cricket League (CCL) – was played just a stone's throw away from what is now the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium, one of the venues for the currently ongoing ICC Men's T20 World Cup.

While workers put the finishing touches to the specially built modular stadium – which will host the South Asian cricket strongholds of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh – two teams of semi-professional cricketers of South Asian origin played their match nearby.

Sabar, a 43-year-old businessman, emigrated to the United States from Pakistan in 1998 and started playing cricket with PakAmerica a year later. Sadaf Sabar, his wife of 14 years, knows not to ask him for help on weekends because every Sunday Sabar drives to different parks in New York to play the game he grew up playing in Pakistan.

He always watched the “home” cricket matches on television at his family home in Sialkot, a city in northeast Pakistan that is considered the country’s leading center for sports equipment production.

“I have never been to the stadium to watch a game,” Sabar tells Al Jazeera as he watches his PakAmerica teammates.

“We watched the game on TV and played on the streets – like all Pakistani children.”

Cricket fans – old and new

A similar story is told by many South Asian cricketers who now call New York their home and play the game to stay connected to their roots.

For Sabar and his friends, cricket at home meant collecting money to buy tennis balls for their tape-ball games on the street; running back and forth in chappals (slipper shoes) while friends shouted “aik aur, aik aur” (one more run) from the sidelines; and rushing home before the evening Maghrib prayers.

Today, these neighborhood cricket games come to life as the South Asian diaspora gathers in the parks of New York after a week in the rat race of everyday life.

Back at Eisenhower Park, there was an unexpected spectator at the PakAmerica vs Hawks CC game.

Mike Niewender, a bewildered 56-year-old from the affluent village of New Hyde Park on Long Island, watched from the parking lot.

“I don’t understand the game,” Niewender told Al Jazeera as he leaned against his heavy bicycle and smoked a cigar.

“I try to figure it out myself before I see anything on social media or read about it,” he said, looking at the pitch.

“I come here every Sunday and watch the game. I discovered the game last summer and now I come here every weekend to relax on my Sunday.”

Keeping cricket alive in New York

Cricket has been around in New York for 44 years. The CCL was founded in New York in 1979 and includes more than 120 clubs, according to Long Island community leader Imran Pasha, who played cricket in Hyderabad, India, during his childhood.

He claims that “every kind of cricket match” is played in New York. “From hardball to softball to tapeball to hard tennis – everything.”

Today, New York hosts games with far greater visibility and higher stakes.

Last year, the United States secured the hosting rights for 16 of the 53 matches of the 2024 T20 World Cup, including arguably the biggest game (excluding the final): India vs. Pakistan.

The modular stadium on Long Island, which has been assembled piece by piece over the past few months, has space for around 40,000 spectators and is expected to be filled to capacity on June 9.

In 2023, the ICC had chosen a site in the Bronx to build the stadium, but community members and local leaders raised environmental concerns and called for a public review of an environmental study before the stadium was approved. The approval would have had to go through a public review process that could have taken up to six months, which prompted the ICC to move to Long Island, according to Pasha.

“Long Island has the space and the environment to host something as big and spectacular as the World Cup,” he tells Al Jazeera.

The 45-year-old plays in the local league for the Long Island Cricket Club. He works with the local Nassau County sub-committee, which works with the ICC on matters related to the staging of the eight matches being played in New York.

Pasha is a software developer by profession and is excited about the opportunities the World Cup matches could bring to the local cricket community as well as businesses throughout Nassau County.

“We work hard to keep the clubs as professional as possible through local sponsorships, trained referees, kits, equipment and parking permits,” he said.

“[These things] It costs time and money, but we come together and do our best.”

Pasha hopes the World Cup will “change the dynamics of cricket response in New York.”

“The stadium alone has given local clubs the attention they desperately needed – attention they had been waiting and hoping for for some time.”

Inspiring the next generation

Pasha, who is known in the local community for his honesty and hard work, hopes the tournament will have a domino effect on the local cricket scene.

“It could lead to [proper] “We are looking for scouting opportunities for Team USA and organizing interstate matches – similar to how cricket is played in other countries,” he explained.

Others, like Neville Kunjravia, see the World Cup as a networking opportunity. The 34-year-old has been a master cricket umpire for years and hopes the ICC takes notice. His dream is to umpire in coveted matches like the World Cup.

As umpire in the PakAmerica-Hawks CC match, he wore a navy blue slouch hat – similar to the one worn by a cricket umpire.

For Ali Zafar, owner of the only known cricket equipment store – Zar Sports – on Long Island, it is a feeling of pride and excitement that cricket is finally coming “home” for him and other South Asian diaspora members like him.

“The World Cup was always held somewhere else and I never had the chance to watch a game or be part of the excitement,” he said.

The 38-year-old was unable to secure tickets for the New York Games, but hopes that the presence of the world's greatest cricketers “will inspire the younger generation to take up the sport.”

“We all bring our children to our [local] games, but that's different than if they want to participate as players.”

Sabar, the captain of PakAmerica, also has high hopes for the tournament.

“I really want younger people to have the same passion for the game as we do,” he said.

“I hope they keep the stadium for the local teams here so that the younger generations can enjoy cricket like we do.”