Most Pakistanis and Indians love Canada. But when cricket matches are played, we return to our past, become Indians or Pakistanis, gather with friends from both countries to see the action on giant TVs, partake of parathas, samosas, puris, mithai and chaat. We clap and cheer – or groan and moan.
For some glorious moments, cricket takes us back to our past and we Pakistanis and Indians marvel at how much we have in common, how many values we share and how, in Canada, we can merge our past and the present, the East and the West, and have the best of the two worlds.
— Mohammed Azhar Ali Khan (a retired Canadian journalist, civil servant and refugee judge writing in the Saudi Gazette)