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Pakistan Grows a Baseball Team From Its Home Soil

Straight off a bone-wearying 24-hour journey, the Pakistani national baseball team went about its inaugural workout in the United States on Tuesday before the Coney Island backdrop of Nathan’s Famous restaurant and the Cyclone roller coaster. The Pakistanis were at MCU Park in Brooklyn for the qualifiers of the World Baseball Classic, which begin Thursday, and they were hoping to find their equilibrium on unfamiliar ground.

“It’s like going from a black-and-white world to a world of color,” said third baseman Zubair Nawaz, speaking through his interpreter and manager, Syed Fakhar Shah.

Unlike the other three national teams here to compete in the play-in qualifiers — Israel, Britain and Brazil — Pakistan fields no players born or raised in the United States.