An international sport popular in India and Australia has made its way to campus.

MSU’s newly created cricket club will soon join about 15 others in a statewide summer league.

The club, in its first year, plans to add its name to the league’s roster within the next month. The league, sponsored by the Michigan Cricket Association, will feature clubs from schools such as the University of Michigan, Western Michigan University and other Michigan schools.

The league’s season will consist of about 15 games, as well as a tournament to crown a champion. Various Michigan venues will hold the games, but MSU will not be among those locations.

Team members, who have been practicing together since last spring, say they are confident about playing in the league.

“We’re going to come back with the championship,” group co-founder Mehul Patel said.

The 100-man squad has been preparing for the league weekly at the IM Sports-West turf arena. About 35 members practice at one time.

Patel, a kinesiology senior, said the team will move outdoors to the IM Sports-East field when the weather gets warmer. There, the team will not face restrictions, such as walls and a ceiling.

Currently, the team doesn’t play any games, but Patel said the club is looking into playing local schools later this spring, such as Lansing Community College.

The club has had many members since the beginning, so starting out was not too difficult, co-founder Ketan Patel said.

“The demand was there, but nobody took the initiative,” the computer science senior said. “There’s so much enthusiasm for cricket.”

Students were so interested, that after one week of advertising by word-of-mouth, 45 students already had joined.

Thinking of the 2 billion cricket fans in the world and his love of the game, Mehul Patel said he started the club with a friend’s help.

The club features experienced cricketers, as well as rookies.

Finance sophomore Pranav Puri has been playing cricket since he was 3, and has played in India and America.

“It’s in my blood,” Puri said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s raining outside.”

Cricket consists of two 11-person teams, and needless to say, with 100 members, playing time is based on a first-come, first-serve basis.

The sport resembles baseball in many ways, but the sports have differences. There are two bases, one in the center of the field and one at a home plate position. Each base also has a wicket and bail, three wooden spikes with a board across the top and a batter stands at each base at all times throughout the game.

There are 10 fielders and one bowler, who pitches the leather-covered cork ball at the home plate batter. The batter hits the ball, and then decides if he wants to run to the center base or not. If so, both batters must run to each other’s bases before the fielder knocks the bail off the wicket with the ball, thereby getting an out. However, that is just one of six ways to get a batter out.

The teams play one inning, until all batters are out, or until the captain decides to end the team’s at bat. Every member is responsible for bowling, fielding and hitting at some point throughout the game.

A normal game can last up to six hours, and as many as 120 runs between the two teams is typical.

Although the group has many members, they always are looking for more, said Rohan Pradhan, a pre-med sophomore.

“People who haven’t played can come in and enjoy it,” he said. “Everyone’s welcome.”

For more information, visit www.msu.edu/~cricket.