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LOS ANGELES -- It’s the last day of classes at the University of Southern California. The entire campus is embellished with graduation décor – congratulatory banners, balloons and barbeque parties. Even as final exams loom, students are excited to be done with the semester.

And as the campus fills with excitement, the faces of six South Asian students are a stark contrast.

Every Friday, the Cromwell field at the USC’s campus in Downtown Los Angeles, is reserved for the USC cricket club. However, this week, a graduation rehearsal dinner has left these enthusiastic cricketers without a place to play.

But nothing can come in the way of South Asians and their cricket. This was, at best, a small hurdle.

They picked up their bats, kits and wickets and walked across campus to play on the sidewalk outside the college’s main library. A few calls were made, the rest of team rounded up and with equal enthusiasm they played in a narrow sidewalk, using parked cycles as fielders, pausing for every pedestrian and risking thorny bushes to retrieve lost balls.

A few minutes into the two-hour long game, Mohan Bhagwat, an electrical engineering graduate student makes a late entry. He is wearing a business-suit and was evidently back from a long day. But his team members weren’t too happy. The team captain, Abbas Khan says, “Why are you so late? Is there something more important than cricket?”
“No,” says Bhagwat, “I am heading to give my final right after this.”

Cricket is treated like a religion in these regions. On weekends, you can see the sport played on the narrow streets in the cities and everywhere in the villages. It’s one of the few pubic activities that unites South Asians – Indians and Pakistanis, Sri Lankans and Tamils, Hindus and Muslims – at USC’s makeshift cricket field, every division is forgotten only to make way for enduring friendships.

Its not surprising then, that with a student population of over 2300 South Asians, the USC Cricket club is one of the university’s largest club sports, with over 300 members and growing.

“Cricket has made people who would have never met before, come together and form enduring friendships outside of the cricket field as well,” said Sharan Sharma, former president of USC Cricket. Rachit Parikh, a junior majoring in finance at the Marshall Business School, said, “We live so far away from our friends and family – coming here every Friday really makes you feel at home.”