Map South Asia

Your Guides My name is Asha and this is my friend Hanu. We’re here to take you through our home, South Asia.

Games are an important part of South Asian culture. We play team games whenever we get together for family events or just for fun with our friends.

Cricket

Cricket is by far the most popular game across South Asia. People love to play it in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. If you’ve never seen it played before, it’s a little bit like baseball. The “batsman” tries to hit the small leather ball pitched by the “bowler” to score “runs,” just like in baseball.

My brother Suraj loves cricket. It’s his absolute favorite thing to do.

Our family doesn’t have a lot of money, so we can’t afford to buy Suraj the proper equipment, but he doesn’t mind. He and his friends find other stuff to use—like a stick instead of a proper bat—and they still have a great time.

Cricket was brought to South Asia by the British.

This is what Suraj has to say about cricket:

Suraj Every day after school, my friends and I get together to play a game of cricket. I’m a pretty good player, but my best friend Himank is the best player in our village. He is an amazing striker—the name for someone who hits the ball.

Kabaddi

This is my favorite game of all time. It’s like a cross between tag, capture the flag and red rover that’s played by kids all over South Asia.

The most interesting thing about kabaddi (pronounced kuh-buhd-di) is that the players chant loudly whenever they cross to the other team’s side. This chant is different depending on what country you live in. In Bangladesh, where kabaddi is the national sport, players chant “hadudu” as they run. If you ever play with me and my friends, I’ll teach you the chant we use.