The crack of the bat. The smell of another cool night fast approaching. Soft breezes cooling the sweat of athletes in competition of a national pastime. The joy of playoff baseball-the Fall Classic, right?
Close, but no cigar. There is a catcher, but he stands behind a wicket instead of crouching behind a plate. The game is cricket. A national pastime? If India is the nation.
“It’s not a question of whether cricket is better than baseball or not. It all depends on where you grow up,” MSU Cricket Club member Dipesh Patel said. “In India it is like baseball over here. Everyone plays.”
The bust of Stephen D. Lee presides over cricket games on the Drill Field every week. The Maroon and White teams try to practice every weekend. They play each other and in intramural competitions across the South.
“We just got back from a tournament at the University of Alabama-Huntsville,” MSU club captain Krish Chandra said. “We finished as runners-up.”
Chandra’s teammates call him a proficient leader.
“He is a very talented cricket player,” Patel said.
Lockesh Shivakumaraiah founded the club two years ago. The club has about 45 members. Chandra explained that only 11 take the field at a time, including a bowler (pitcher) and a catcher.
Foul territory does not exist in cricket. The batter can hit the ball, with his flat bat, in any direction he wants.
Luckily, the balls that the clubs use are only tennis balls wrapped tightly in electrician’s tape.
“We use the tape to make the balls heavier to more closely resemble a real cricket ball,” club member Shanti Bhushan said.
Although the club is only two years old, its reputation is growing rapidly. The MSUCC logo, a bulldog in cricket gear with the slogan “Our passion never ceases,” is becoming a recognizable symbol of the expanding club.
“The fame of the game is growing,” Bhusan said. “Some of us were in Wal-Mart and someone saw my shirt. He came up to me and asked a lot of questions about it and how he could join.”