On weekdays the drill field is a walkway for students scrambling from class to class. But on Saturdays it is a playground for a familiar to some, yet unknown to others.
Lokesh Shivakumaraiah remembers coming to Mississippi State and seeing that a lot of people were interested in cricket.
“When I arrived here I could tell that a lot of people were playing cricket or interested in it, and I knew that Americans played baseball and the two games aren’t that different. So we got together and started a club,” said Shivakumaraiah, who is now the president of the cricket club. “The main goal of the club is to promote the game of cricket in all its aspects at Mississippi State.”
To help complete this goal the cricket club offers clinics in the fall and spring semesters as well as a camp in the summer.
Biomedical engineering major and cricket club member Vikram Venkatesh explains what can be learned at the clinics.
“To teach the locals about the game, the Mississippi State University Cricket Club organizes cricket clinics at regular intervals. These clinics not only give the theoretical aspects of cricket, but also give a chance to the participants to gain hands-on experience by playing cricket and learning from the pros.”
Venkatesh also remembers coming to MSU and being surprised by the interest in cricket.
“I never expected people to have such a good response to the club. The hardest part was to get locals interested because most of the rest of the world plays cricket but not America,” Venkatesh said.
As the club continues to grow they hope to bring in more Americans, Shivakumaraiah explains.
“We play almost every weekend on the Drill Field and we want any nationality or any skill level to come play. If you are good enough, we will put you on the team. Otherwise we work to make you better and we will always have fun,” he said.
“America has given us many opportunities in our lives and in our education,” Shivakumaraiah said. “We would like to give something back by popularizing the game of cricket. We also want to represent Mississippi State University.”
Abdud Dahian started playing cricket when he was a child and has continued playing for about 15 years.
“Cricket is the game of India, much like baseball is the game of America. But I think that cricket is more interesting to watch than baseball. Watching baseball is a little slow,” Abdud said.
Arun Ramakrishnan knows that baseball and cricket are similar yet have distinct differences.
“Both games have a pitcher, batter, fielders and so on. The goal of the both games is to score as many runs as possible, so the basic idea is similar,” Ramakrishnan said. “But cricket only has two bases that you run back and forth to and our bats are flat where baseball bats are round. The ball used in cricket is also different.”
For more information on the cricket club visit the Web site at www.msstate.edu/org.mc. You can also email Lokesh Shivakumaraiah at [email protected].