I continue to grab new experiences when possible as a means to expand my horizons and perspective. A few weeks ago, this meant traveling across the Atlantic to attend a European business event. This weekend, it meant going to my very first professional cricket match, a T20 match between the Washington Freedom and the LA Knight Riders.

T20 is a version of cricket that lasts about as long as a major league baseball game, and if you are familiar with baseball you can watch a few explainer videos on YouTube and be ready to watch a cricket match even if you’ll still have a few questions. The action of T20 cricket is at a more regular cadence than a baseball game—six balls per over, about a minute between overs, twenty overs of batting per team, and a thirty minute break in between.

There is a T20 league in the United States that is in its second season. The league splits its games between Dallas-Fort Worth and here in the Triangle, both areas with large South Asian diasporas. The epicenter of T20 cricket is in India, home to the Indian Premier League. The weather on Sunday felt like I could have been in certain parts of India. It was over 100 degrees and humid when the first ball was bowled. I huddled under an umbrella for some shade as I sat in my foldable camp chair watching the action. Almost everyone in attendance knew the rules, but there were a few brave souls who sat there in the heat needing explanations of what they were watching. Ample respect for them.

I had wanted to go to Friday’s match to see a few stars that I’ve watched in various highlight reels, but the weather had other plans and that match was rained out. I therefore went to the weekend’s other match instead. There were still plenty of international players on display. In addition to Americans, there were players from the Caribbean, England, New Zealand, Bangladesh, South Africa, and Australia on the pitch. The crowd shared a similar level of diversity.

I sat with a side-on view, the equivalent of sitting down the baseline at a baseball stadium instead of behind the plate, which made it a little challenging to tell how the ball was moving. It certainly seemed like the ball was moving faster than it does when I’ve watched cricket on a screen. I was also zero for two on my assessments of whether challenges to the umpire’s decisions would be successful, so there were a couple of different forms of humble pie that were served to me as I sat there.

The match itself was not very competitive. Washington’s bowlers blew away LA’s batters leaving them with a below par score. Yes, the teams supposedly represent different cities even though the matches are only played here and in Texas; no, there isn’t a team name affiliated with North Carolina. Washington’s opening batsmen, both Australians, then made light work of the chase and the outcome was never in doubt. That was secondary to the overall viewing experience. The crowd was maybe 2000-2500 people. There were food trucks offering concessions. It was too hot for me to want a curry, but a mango lassi might have been a great option if I’d seen it before I was walking towards the exit.