Uruguay’s Indian cricketers look for a permanent home

Every Sunday, close to a statue of Indian independence hero Mahatma Gandhi, a group of Indian expats take over a patch of land in Uruguay’s capital Montevideo for a game of cricket. Avijit Mukherjee prepares to bat, watched eagerly by his Uruguayan girlfriend. “I played in my country but with a lot more infrastructure,” said the 28-year-old Mukherjee, whose girlfriend Veronica is the main reason he has stayed in Uruguay. “There are stadiums and many places to play in India, whereas here we only have one.”

Although cricket was first played in Montevideo by British expat workers even before the foundation of the independent republic in 1828, its practice died out in the 1980s.

But following an influx of Indian immigrants to Uruguay at the turn of the century, cricket steadily returned to Montevideo.

First there were one-off matches. Then, the players organised their own league and even set up a Uruguayan national team.

At the end of last year, Uruguay, whose team was made up almost entirely of Indian expats, finished second in the South American championships in Colombia.

While the cricketers are now established on their little patch of land, their initial appearance was not entirely welcomed by local footballers playing on an adjacent pitch.

“We came like spiders and rebuked them,” recalls Daniel Mosco, a local resident who has been playing football in that field for 30 years.

The issue was quickly resolved, though, and the cricketers agreed to start playing only once the football matches had finished.

Mosco, for one, was surprised that the players speak to each other in English. And there’s another surprise in the form of 29-year-old doctor Saied Muhammad Asif Raza: He’s from Pakistan.

“Between the governments and in (professional) cricket there are always problems, but the people get on really well and within the team the are no problems whatsoever,” said Asif.

He left his home town of Multan, 10 hours from Islamabad, at 19 and moved to Cuba thanks to a Fidel Castro scholarship.

“The thing is that when you live many years away, nowhere is home, and cricket brings me close to it.”

Although now at home on their small patch, finding something more permanent is crucial to Montevideo’s cricketers.

“We’re looking for a permanent ground,” Beerbal Maniyattukudy, the Uruguayan Cricket Association’s Secretary, said.