One MSU student is attempting to broaden MSU’s horizon when it comes to club sports. Finding its niche within MSU’s international community, biochemistry senior Jahanzaib Nadeem acts as founder and captain of an awaited cricket club.
A peculiar sport that can last up to 8 hours a day for a span of 4-5 days, cricket portrays an unusual part of U.S. history. In a match against Canada, the U.S. cricket team was the first team to play in an official international match, during which Canada won by 23 runs.
And this was in 1844, one year before Alexander Cartwright developed the basic rules for modern baseball. But as baseball proliferated, it captured the eyes of the nation, pressing cricket to develop abroad.
Born in Pakistan, Jahanzaib Nadeem grew up playing cricket for 12 years. But once he moved to Michigan at the age of 15, he nearly lost the game he loved.
Once here, he soon discovered the Midwest Cricket Conference, a non-profit sporting body comprised of teams from Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Louis and even Grand Rapids. Exhibiting crickets advancement in the U.S., this organization has scaled from 12 teams in 1995 to over 47 teams in 2004.
A member of the Grand Rapids Cricket Club, Nadeem wanted to share his passion with the MSU community.
“Here at Michigan State there was a cricket club back in the day but it had left,” Nadeem said. “So I decided to post on a couple of pages around here and see if anyone is interested in playing.”
Currently, Cricket Michigan State, as Nadeem has named it, began its journey at the start of the semester. In the process of being recognized by the university, Nadeem was unwavering in his attempt to form a club, as they have already practiced for three weeks and have even played a match against the University of Michigan’s cricket club.
With a group of around 50 participants, Nadeem stressed that anyone can play. Further stating that it is a multinational team with a number of players of varying skill sets.
“We have a lot of people who played cricket before like me, and some people who just saw it on TV and were interested,” Nadeem said. “We obviously have American people, along with people from England, Australia, New Zealand, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.”
Current teammate, kinesiology junior Duttkamar Patel believes this club represents more than just a sport.
“Bringing cricket at MSU would not only help people learn the sport but also the history behind it and it means so much,” Patel said.
But Nadeem is not fighting for cricket’s recognition alone. In an attempt to promote youth cricket in the U.S., Jason Mellet, CEO of Hammer Cricket, a sporting brand out of Frisco, Texas, has offered to give MSU cricket players 50 percent off bats. And it is with this in mind that Nadeem is always searching for more students to come out and play.
If a student is interested in playing with Cricket Michigan State, contact Jahanzaib Nadeem or attend a practice on Saturday’s from 7-10 p.m. at the IM West indoor tennis courts.
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