ICC World Cup 2015 is about the overwhelming Asian presence at the grounds

The knockout stages of the World Cup normally bring the excitement and buzz around in the host countries. But for Australia, all the enthusiasm seems to be evolving from the Asian population down under. (ICC Cricket World Cup 2015: Full Coverage)

This is not to say the Australian public is not thrilled at hosting the World Cup. But to be fair with the local rugby and football season already clashing with the dramatic stages of the World Cup, the conversations on the streets, offices, schools and stations is largely on the new season of the contact sports.

On the opening day of the World Cup, nearly 84,000 people came through the gates to watch England and Australia play. One would think, with the match hosted by Australia and a huge English population in Australia, it would be largest crowd at the World Cup.  Well, it wasn’t. Only a week later 3000 more people witnessed the blockbuster clash between India and South Africa. (READ: The final standing in the groups and the line-up for the quarter-final)

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But it is not only the Indian contingent. The expat communities of Sri Lankan, Pakistan, Afghanistan and the Bangladesh community are also relishing the opportunity to watch their nations play in Australia.  The supporters of each of these teams have easily outnumbered the South African, English, Australian and West Indian supporters.

The Afghanistan-Bangladesh match attracted a crowd of 8,983 — only couple of thousand short than when Australia played South Africa in November 2014.  The two games in Perth for India, attracted the same amount of crowd as the first four days of the Ashes Test match last year.

Sri Lanka supporters outnumbered the Australians at the game at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) last week. Google the fact and you realise, there are about the same number of Sri Lankans in Sydney and Melbourne as the city of Colombo.

Around the cities in Australia, the World Cup buzz has been created by pre-dominantly the Asian communities. These are people that still call themselves Australians, but when it comes to cricket, they always side with their heredity roots.   It is no shame; these communities have brought the World Cup alive in Australia and locals have been thrilled by the passion and the support the fans have shown.

Before the India Pakistan match, 80-year old Nigel Cambridge, a real estate agent in his day, said: “They should stage an India-Pakistan match every year in Adelaide. We hear stories about what cricket means on the sub-continent. This World cup has brought that atmosphere to our shores. We have seen the reality.”

The colour, the songs, the music, the traditional outfits are everything that has never been seen in Australia have caught eye over the past month.

People in Australia have been amazed at how advanced the ‘Star Network” television coverage is, in terms of the big name commentators and the statistics they display.  It is such a sub-continental game.

The World Cup sponsors and the committees will be hoping the semi-final and the final involves maximum Asian teams. After all, it is their fans that have really bought the World Cup alive in Australia.

(Gaurav Joshi is an Indian-born Australian who played with Michael Clarke in his junior days. He coaches and reports for a Sydney radio station. Over the years he has freelanced for Australia Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and is a regular on ABC cricket show Cow Corner. He is the author of the book “Teen Thunder Down Under” – The inside story of India’s 2012 U19 World Cup Triumph)