Thomas Breen photos
Raj Kumar winds up.
Hitesh Redy, with improvised "cricket bat."
Raj Kumar lifted his right arm like a windmill against the backdrop of the former English Station power plant as he “bowled” a tennis ball towards Hitesh Redy — who didn’t need a proper cricket bat to enjoy some time in the park in Fair Haven.
A plank of wood salvaged from their Woolsey Street home would do just fine.
Kumar, Imran Sheik, and Redy on Friday.
Kumar, Redy, and Imran Sheik, Fair Haven roommates and Sacred Heart University master’s students, spent Friday morning in a park on James Street playing an improvised version of their favorite sport from back home in Hyderabad, India.
Yes, there were only three of them, as opposed to the 11-person teams typical of the uber-popular global sport.
Yes, they were on a patch of dirt and grass by the Mill River next to John S. Martinez School, as opposed to a cricket field.
Yes, they were using a tennis ball and a chipped plank of wood, rather than a cricket ball and bat.
But the sky was blue, the weather was warm, and they didn’t have classes for the day. What better way to spend some time in their temporary home city than walking over to the grassy plot to bowl, bat, and field?
“We live in the neighborhood,” said Redy, a 25-year-old business analytics student. “It’s sunny.” A good day to be outside.
Kumar, who is also 25 and also studies business analytics, said playing cricket makes him and his friends feel connected to their home country of India, where they would play every Sunday. “Americans watch football” together, he said. In India, that’s true for cricket.
The three friends moved from India to New Haven to attend Sacred Heart, where they’re just now finishing up their first semesters.
Kumar, Red, and Khan — the latter of whom is 22, and a computer science student — said they chose to live in New Haven while studying in Fairfield for a few reasons:
• Transportation is better here than most other places in Connecticut. (They take the 212 bus on Grand Avenue just about every day.)
• There’s a growing population of Indian immigrants in New Haven, including in Fair Haven.
• There’s an Indian farmer’s market nearby in Orange.
• The Walmart on Foxon Boulevard is so close.
Kumar did have one complaint about that Rt. 80 superstore: “There are no cricket bats at Walmart.”
Not to worry. Sheik said they found a “random guy” in Stamford to buy a proper cricket bat from. They plan on picking it up on Sunday.
Sheik, Kumar, and Redy teach this reporter how to swing a cricket bat. I hit the ball!