While the European nation Sweden is busy in the ongoing 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, the cricket is quickly rising in the country, thanks to the Afghanistan and Pakistan migrants.

Even in 10 years ago, the cricket had hardly gained popularity in that country. But now, around 65 teams have played this sport in the country and have four divisions in the country’s cricket league.

The Swedish Cricket Federation chairman Tariq Zuwak said on that, “Three or four years ago, we had only 13 clubs in Sweden and the number of players was around 600 or 700.”

From the 600-700 players, it has now increased to more than 2,000 players. Around half of among them have earned the Swedish citizenship and the others are still waiting to earn it. Only a few of them were born in this Northern European country.

Since 2012, Sweden has more than 4,00,000 registered asylum application.

Talking about how the cricket has changed the youngsters, Zuwak said, “The youngsters miss their families and are worried about their asylum process. But when they play cricket, there is nothing else on their mind than having fun.”

On the other hand, the u-19 coach David Williman told the Swedish newspaper local.se about the nation’s cricket, “We’ve got around 3,000 players and 50 teams across the country, with a big hotspot in Stockholm where there are about 25 teams. It is still very much a minority sport, and not enough native Swedes are playing.”

18-year-old Saeed Ahmed, who arrived in Sweden in 2015 from Afghanistan, has given cricket to the top priority and one of the bright futures in the nation’s cricket. He has recently played for Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and he is currently focusing the upcoming qualifying matches in England for the 2020 ICC U-19 World Cup that will be played in July and August.