Indian, Pakistani students watch homelands vie in cricket

Many University of Pennsylvania students went to their Wednesday afternoon classes sleepy and less alert than normal. That's because they got up at 5 a.m. - not to write term papers but to watch the semifinal match between India and Pakistan in the World Cup cricket tournament, a battle in which India ultimately prevailed.

In parts of the world such as South Asia, where cricket is immensely popular, the prospect of a penultimate contest between two nations with chilly political relations and a record of fierce athletic rivalry on the cricket pitch was as exciting as the Super Bowl and World Series rolled into one.

"This is a once-in-a-generation thing," exclaimed Umer Ali, 21, a senior of Pakistani heritage who is majoring in politics, philosophy, and economics. "It happens every four years, like the World Cup of soccer, but when India and Pakistan meet, for us it's the biggest cricket event there is."

The last time the two teams vied in a World Cup one-day cricket match at such an advanced stage in the competition was in the 1996 quarterfinals. India has now triumphed over Pakistan in all five World Cup encounters and will meet Sri Lanka in the final Saturday.

"It's dominating my life right now," confessed Karina Sengupta, 19, a sophomore majoring in business and political science who pronounced herself "ecstatic" after India's triumph. "I rearranged my classes so I could watch."

Sengupta attended a screening at Rodin College House that drew a standing-room-only crowd of cricket fans, about evenly split between students of Indian and Pakistani descent. Fans also gathered to view the match at Houston and Williams Halls as well as online in numerous apartments and dormitory rooms.

Hadi Khan, 24, a graduate student in the Fels School of Government, organized the screening at Rodin with the Penn Pakistan Society. The idea was to invite both Indian and Pakistani students so they could experience the up-and-down thrills together while rooting for their teams.

About 60 students showed up during the match, which ended shortly after 1 p.m. Some diehard fans stayed throughout. Others stepped out to attend classes and returned. Though India built an early lead, Pakistan, with a habit of upsets, had a shot until its challenge began to unravel after noon. Even when the situation looked bleak, indeed mathematically impossible, Pakistan's rooting section at Penn remained loyal and vocal.

"The spirit never died," Khan marveled. "There was no food, and people still stuck around."

Students showed up in team jerseys - green for Pakistan, with crescent and star; blue for India, adorned with the ashoka chakra, a 24-spoked wheel. Some wore face paint and waved flags. They chanted slogans and cheered heartily - Indians in Hindi, Pakistanis in Urdu. They jumped to their feet to salute brilliant play and admired the athletic derring-do of such stars as ace Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar, named player of the match, or MVP.

It was eminently clear which side students were pulling for, but there were no fisticuffs or tossed chairs, and the cheers ("Our team is the best!") remained polite and positive, in accordance with a sport that prizes sportsmanship and courtesy.

"This is an academic environment," Khan explained, "and we all know each other well. We are all friends, and we have respect for each other."

"We got along well," said Razeen Khan, 20, a Wharton School junior majoring in marketing. "It was the first time the Pakistani and Indian students were together, and I really enjoyed it. I'm disappointed by the outcome, but it was a great experience to watch the match together."

The match was played at Punjab Cricket Association Stadium in Mohali, India, and the prime minister of India invited the prime minister of Pakistan to be his guest. When the camera panned the crowd and showed rival fans holding a banner that proclaimed "Pakistan-India Unity," the students at Penn applauded.

"This kind of thing brings people closer together more efficiently than politicians ever do," said Basil Khan, 21, a Wharton junior.

"It's a great example of how sports can break down boundaries," Ali said.

Elsewhere on campus, Anurakt Jain, 28, who is pursuing a Wharton MBA, watched the match on a large television at a friend's apartment with 15 or so other Wharton students, one of three cricket-watching gatherings organized by the Wharton India Club.

Jain was there from 5 a.m. "till the last ball was bowled - absolutely!"

"Everyone stayed in and had breakfast and lunch. You could say we were all glued to the television set. It was an exciting match, and the outcome was definitely to our liking, but Pakistan gave a good fight, and there were certain nail-biting moments when everyone was unsure how it would swing."

Though the gathering did not include Pakistani students, Jain and his friends were constantly e-mailing and tweeting Pakistani friends at the university to tease, taunt, and gloat.

"There's a great sense of camaraderie," Jain said. "Had India lost, I'm sure we would have acknowledged that the better side won."