A wicked googly

At the Graduate Student Center over the last few weeks, hundreds of students have been raising their voices over an issue about which they are passionate more than any other. But this has nothing to do with a union -- unless you count the Union Jack. This is the Cricket World Cup, and for cricket fans across campus, the GSC has become a second home recently, especially for Penn's large South Asian community. The interest has been so high that the GSC has been selling $4 tickets for matches that start as early as 3 a.m., Philadelphia time -- and selling out. It has been quite a week for the Indian team's supporters. Wednesday, India beat England decisively in a key match for both teams. Saturday, they won a thrilling match against their biggest rival, next-door neighbor -- Pakistan. Wednesday was not a good day to be an England supporter at the GSC. India's star batsman, Sachin Tendulkar -- the country's equivalent of Michael Jordan -- scored 50 of India's 250 runs on the day, including eight "fours," when a batsman hits the ball over the field boundary on the ground, and one "six," cricket's equivalent of a home run. Each smash of the ball brought loud cheers from the overwhelmingly pro-India crowd. Life got even better for India's supporters when England came to bat. The climax came when India bowler (think pitcher) Ashish Nehra dismissed two of England's best players, captain Nasser Hussain and Alec Stewart, on successive balls. The GSC erupted in cheers, with many Indian fans pointing both index fingers towards the ceiling to mimic the umpire's signal for "out." Consider the reaction one would find at a bar in South Boston from Pedro Martinez striking out Derek Jeter and Alfonso Soriano in consecutive at-bats in a playoff game. It was about as close to the Palestra's atmosphere as one could get from 100 people at a midweek lunch hour. "The anti-doping unit should be alerted immediately," wrote England's The Guardian newspaper of Nehra's performance, the third-best of all time in the World Cup. "A cricketer surely could face suspension for having traces of a performance-enhancing drug in his name." But the biggest match of all came Saturday morning. "When India and Pakistan play each other, it's a pretty big thing," said Bharat Khumar, an India supporter. "The obsession that people have with cricket is much greater than anything that can be comparable in the United States." "It doesn't happen that often, and besides, South Asians are generally just emotional people," said Sana Jaffrey, a Pakistan supporter who lives across the hall from Kumar in Hill College House. Cricket is "just one of those things we get emotional about," she added. "It's been ingrained over lots and lots of years." And with passions running high, nearly 150 people jammed the GSC as many basketball fans headed home to sleep off the win over Brown scarcely six hours earlier. "We started setting up the place at eight o'clock," said Anita Mastroieni, the director of the Graduate Student Center. "We were done at 10 o'clock setting up so that we could all get about three hours of sleep and then reopen at two." "This is the first time and hopefully the only time I'll ever sleep at the Graduate Student Center," she said. Surrounded by the cold Philadelphia night, all eyes were fixed on the satellite feed from sunny Supersport Park in Centurion, South Africa, projected on a big screen at the front of the GSC's main room. "Cricket is a religion for the people in India," said Annapurna Valluri, an India supporter who checked tickets at the door. "That's why they'd be here. "Especially against Pakistan." Pakistan batted first and recorded an impressive total of 273 runs, a high number for the "one-day international" or ODI format used at the World Cup. Buoyed by 100 runs off the bat of Saeed Anwar, otherwise known as a "century," -- the high benchmark for individual batting in a cricket match -- Pakistan set a formidable but not unreachable goal for India to aim at in their turn at bat. "It was a great innings," said Ahmad Zeeshan, a Pakistan supporter. Then came India's innings. Then came Tendulkar. He strode confidently to the middle of the field and stared down Pakistan's Shoaib Akhtar, widely regarded as the world's fastest bowler. One ball, one swing, one roar -- Tendulkar put his first ball well over the boundary for a four, raising the overwhelming majority of India supporters out of their seats with chants of "ooh, aah, Tendulkar." Another four came, and then, for added emphasis, India's superstar blasted a six into the sea of Indian flags with a swing that Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa would have been proud of. The runs were coming in droves and the Indian supporters were in a frenzy. The TV commentators described the situation as "bowling to a cannon that was firing from both ends." "Sachin, your mama loves you," one India supporter said, wary of Tendulkar's tendency to start swinging for the proverbial fences, a move as risky in cricket as it is in baseball. "Take it easy." He need not have worried, though. Tendulkar ended the day with 98 of India's 274 runs, propelling his country to its biggest win of the tournament and a place in the second round. "Brilliant," said Gupta as the match ended. "Tendulkar is one of the greatest ever seen in one-day internationals." Gupta praised the opposition as well. "I would understand that when they scored 273 they would really like their chances," he said. "But on this day [India] just took the game away from them." All in all, it was a great day for cricket, and for Penn's large South Asian population, which got to celebrate their passion among friends and the comforts of their new home. "If you ask anyone here," Gupta said. "They couldn't have asked for anything more."

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.