The L.A. Pilot

LOS ANGELES-- Every Friday, students all over America rush away from their campuses – excited for their weekends. But a few South Asian students at the University of Southern California enthusiastically head towards USC’s Cromwell field in Downtown Los Angeles.

The ground is reserved for the USC Cricket Club – an organization of about 300 students, each more passionate than the other for the game of cricket.

“Without a doubt, this is the largest sport in the subcontinent; it’s followed like religion,” said Sushil Premjani, former president and founding member, USC Cricket.

The British sport, in its original form, is a two-innings-long game played over five days, in a 65-yard outfield. But these enthusiasts make do with a lot less.

“During school we used to play cricket between classes using the desk as the field, a ruler as a bat and chewing gum wrapper as a ball,” said Premjani. “After coming to USC, we have played in small parking garages, in our living rooms and even after hours in classrooms,” he said.

The Cromwell track and field - a large Astroturf complex – is definitely a big step up.
“The administration has been so encouraging – it’s awesome to attend a college that loves its sports,” said former club president, Sharan Sharma.

The club was allotted the ground 4 years ago and ever since, the word has spread all over campus.

“We have had immense participation from students from all over the world,” said Sharma, “including the non-commonwealth countries.”

On campus, they are forced to play the shortest, action-packed version of the sport: 20 – 20. And for safety reasons, instead of the typical “season” or hard, cricket ball, they use a tape-ball: a regular tennis ball, wrapped with electrical tape.

Although there has been participation from students of different nationalities, a sustained involvement in the sport comes only from the 1,200-odd South Asians students enrolled at USC’s campus. “These are not first-time players – the level of cricket here is up to the standards of any college in India – there’s nothing different,” said Sharma.

After the attention Friday Night Lights – the tournament played under Cromwell’s floodlights, has attracted, USC has been able to put up its own professional, competitive hardball cricket team that plays one-day format cricket tournaments every weekend.

And statistically speaking, with 300 members it’s more competitive to get a spot on USC’s cricket team than it has been in many of these student’s colleges back in the subcontinent.

It’s also a lot more expensive and time consuming; all year around, games start at 9 a.m. and often end only at 5 p.m. And to participate, each player must pay $20 per game, and drive to cricket fields anyway from 30 – 60 miles away from campus.

View Cricket Fields in Los Angeles County in a larger map

The club’s management seems determined to grow the sport on campus and the club’s president, Tarun Sandhu, has a plan: “The next goal is to get UCLA to put up a team – and only after we beat them, will we make it to Daily Trojan’s front page!” he said.