Ribbon ball games are ubiquitous on the streets of Karachi throughout the year, but Ramadan sees nightly tournaments appear in most neighbourhoods.
After midnight, during Ramadan, makeshift floodlights turn a basketball court in central Karachi into an urban cricket arena, as dozens of young Pakistanis chase tennis balls through the air at night.
Ribbon ball games are ubiquitous on the streets of Karachi throughout the year, but Ramadan sees nightly tournaments appear in most neighbourhoods.
“Children and young people cannot afford to buy the equipment and all the cricket accessories with hard balls, but they can buy the tape ball easily,” the organizer told AFP in Karachi.
Matches played in the poorest neighbourhoods, can attract hundreds of spectators, many of whom say watching cricket all night helps to fast the day.
After the partition in 1947, cricket was considered an upper-class domain, played in Karachi’s posh clubs and elite schools.
But as the population boomed during the 1960s, cricket adapted to the sprawling metropolis and tennis balls emerged as an alternative to hardball.
The cheaper alternative – which also eliminated the need for expensive equipment – took several experimental forms in the following decades and is credited with bringing the sport to ordinary Pakistanis.
