When 35,000 Asians stormed Long Island

Rex Clementine in Miami

Sri Lanka’s chances to qualify for the second round of the T-20 World Cup faded away when they suffered a second loss in the Group D fixture against Bangladesh in Dallas. They flew into Miami for their next encounter. Between those games is the epic India – Pakistan clash in New York that one wouldn’t want to miss out.

Everything in US is money. You can buy an air ticket, but that doesn’t include your checked-in luggage. For that you have to pay separately at the check-in counters. It costs you a cool 40 USD.

Near gate number D25 in Dallas airport is a restaurant. You walk in to have some food and notice something different. Several people who serve food in the restaurant are those who are down with autism. Ben is a tall lad working in the restaurant and he does a fine job and obliges your request for a selfie. US is not discriminating anyone. Perhaps, it’s time that back home too we treat people with autism with more understanding.

The cricket ground in New York is at a place called Long Island. It’s a 40-minute drive from John F. Kennedy airport.

Rooms in Long Island have gone up in prices because of high demands. Some 35,000 fans have bought tickets. For police, it’s a logistics nightmare. They need to make sure the game goes on without any incident.

Although the match starts only at 10:30 am New York time, it makes sense to leave the hotel early. So, booked an Uber. The driver arrives. But there’s a problem. He only speaks Chinese. So, we drive towards the ground and the traffic is building up. You tell the driver to just keep going straight because media has been issued car passes for the game and it’s in the phone. It will be scanned and your vehicle will be allowed in. But the Chinese speaking driver doesn’t get what you are trying to say. He tries to avoid the traffic and speeds away on another lane. And he drops you off at the other end of the ground. That means a 30-minute walk to the press box from the opposite end of the ground.

How can someone live in America leave alone work here without knowing English? When your plight is told to a local journalist he explains that America has in fact no official language. It’s the free world.

You enter the press box just on time for the toss. It’s a wise decision to have left early.

It’s a cracking game. A full house witness India beating Pakistan in a last over thriller. Pakistan are facing elimination after losing to USA and then to India. Someone put it sarcastically; ‘Last week Pakistan were beaten by Green Card Indians. This week Pakistan were beaten by Adhar Card Indians.’

After the game, you visit a convenient store to pick up some food. The owner of the place is a Pakistani. We chat about cricket for about five minutes and as you are about to leave he asks you, ‘So, where are you from? Guyana or Jamaica?’

That’s something that’s frequently asked. West Indies were playing a Test match in Kandy a few years ago. As you entered the press box, a cop gets up from his seat and says, ‘good morning, sir.’ The next day too we exchange pleasantries. On day three, Lakruwan Wanniarachci and yours truly go to the press box chatting in Sinhala. The cop gives a weird look and says, ‘thamusay Lanakweda. Mama hithuwe  West Indies kiyala.’

Florida is where Sri Lanka’s next game is. Actually, Florida is the state. It’s twice as big as Sri Lanka. Florida is 170,000 Square Kilometers. Sri Lanka meanwhile is only 65,000 Square Kilometers. The state has several prominent cities with Orlando, Miami and Tampa being the major ones. The game is actually played at Fort Lauderdale. There’s an airport there. It’s no tiny airport as it handles over 700 flights daily. That’s far more than what Katunayake operates daily. Miami of course handles over 1000 flights daily. It’s a 90-minute drive from Miami International to the cricket ground.

The flight from New York to Miami takes three and half hours. The New York airport is named after President John F. Kennedy and fondly called as JFK. It is highly hyped up but it’s nowhere near to Changi Airport in Singapore or Bangalore Airport. JFK has eight terminals and handles over 2500 flights daily.