South Asian community brings cricket to Lithuania's parks
A small but growing South Asian expat community in Lithuania is organising regular cricket matches in Vilnius parks, hoping to build proper facilities and draw in local interest.
On weekend mornings in Vilnius' Vingis Park, passers-by sometimes pause to watch an unfamiliar sight: a group of men setting up a cricket pitch on the grass. Despite the uneven ground making the ball bounce unpredictably, a community of South Asian expats gathers here regularly to play the sport they grew up with.
Cricket holds enormous cultural weight on the Indian subcontinent — the 2025 Champions Trophy final between India and New Zealand alone drew around 230 million viewers in India. In Lithuania, a country of under three million people, the sport remains largely unknown, but a small community is working to change that.
From a Facebook group to a community
Taufeeq Shaik moved to Lithuania from India four years ago for work. Soon after arriving, he discovered a Facebook group of cricket players in Vilnius and joined them. He says the game has not only kept him connected to something familiar but also built friendships with people from different regions of India who now feel like family.
Lithuania now has four cricket clubs — Vilnius, Aquila, Kaunas and Falcon — with around 60 active players, mostly South Asian expats working or studying in the country. Matches between the Vilnius and Kaunas clubs carry a friendly rivalry reminiscent of the basketball rivalry between Rytas and Žalgiris.
The pitch problem
The community's main obstacle is the lack of proper facilities: Lithuania has no dedicated cricket pitches, forcing official matches to be played across the border in Latvia or Estonia, where suitable grounds already exist. The community has approached Lithuania's sports ministry seeking investment in facilities, though progress has been slow given the sport's niche status.
Still, there are encouraging signs. Several Lithuanian schools have shown interest in introducing cricket to students, and the community includes coaches certified by the International Cricket Council who can teach in schools. One of them, Vinayagasundaram Subramani, who has lived in Lithuania for eight years, says locals have been consistently welcoming toward players representing Lithuania in competitions abroad.
