New Hyde Park’s Sahir Bhatia was in the stands this summer when 30,000 people filled the temporary cricket stadium in Nassau County as part of the T20 Cricket World Cup.

Bhatlia watched as his friend and teammate Jeremy Samuel, of Syosset, brought out the U.S. flag as part of the opening ceremonies before Team USA played Team India.

The atmosphere and experience was intoxicating for the two Long Islanders who had been playing cricket alongside each other at the Queens United Cricket Academy (QUCA) since 2015. For Samuel and Bhatia, the potentially once-in-a-lifetime experience at Eisenhower Park was more than just entertainment, it was a source of inspiration — a reflection of a dream that the two had shared as two of Long Island’s most-talented cricketers.

“That was really cool,” Bhatia said. “Seeing Team USA play with like 30,000 people watching and imagining that could be me in a few years, it was just really cool for me to see.”

Samuel, a 16-year-old junior at Syosset High School, and Bhatia, a 17-year-old senior at New Hyde Park High School, woke up on Dec. 11 to find that their dream had been realized: they were selected to the United States’ national under-19 cricket team.

“It’s a great feeling because this was always one of my dreams to get selected,” Samuel said. “I’m super excited because I get to travel the world and see everywhere while also getting to play the sport I love to play.”

It was a long and rather competitive process for Samuel, a wicketkeeper, and Bhatia, a bowler, to make the national team.

In early August, they attended an open tryout of roughly 100 players in Queens for the New York State team and were selected as two of the 15 members. Immediately after, they moved onto a zonal tryout in Queens of 180 players called the “New York Region,” which hosted state teams from across the Northeastern U.S. Once again, Samuel and Bhatia were selected to the 15-member regional team.

From there, they went up to Schenectady at the end of August to compete in a pool of 120 cricketers across eight total regional teams in a selection tournament called the “Eastern Conference.” After flourishing in a couple of trial matches, they were selected to a 28-player squad that advanced to a November tryout in Atlanta for the national team.

Out of a 56-person tryout (28 from the East and 28 from the West), 30 cricketers were chosen for the national team. Only two New Yorkers remained: Samuel and Bhatia.

Samuel is on the team’s 16-man traveling squad that left this week for South Africa to begin preparing for international competition in early January. Bhatia is on the team’s 12-man training group that will remain practicing in the U.S. until around Easter, when it will rejoin the traveling squad.

“It’s amazing,” Bhatia said. “If I’m able to represent the USA well, that would be one of my biggest dreams. I was really happy for Jeremy because I like seeing how hard he’s worked. To see both of us be rewarded for our hard work, that’s really cool.”

Their selection to the national team is emblematic of a growing cricket community on Long Island, and it has only helped expedite that growth. Samuel’s father, George Samuel, is the director and head coach of QUCA, and has seen a growth in attention paid to his club this year.

“Them being selected can lead to others coming to join,” George Samuel said. “After the World Cup, we were getting a lot of inquiries. When the parents came to know that these kids were practicing with boys who are now on the national squad, they started taking [QUCA] a lot more seriously. People are starting to realize that if you work hard in cricket, there is a path to move forward through here.”

As far as the younger Samuel is concerned, he is just hoping to continue to represent his community well.

“Me and Sahir are the only ones from New York and Long Island, and it’s just a great feeling to be able to represent this area of the country,” Samuel said. “I feel like it will inspire people from New York and Long Island. The goal is to just do as best as I can and represent my family and my country most of all.”