Cricket club resurges

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Carly Strods

Sushant Dixit, a fourth-year biomedical engineering student, hits the ball during a cricket tournament at RIT.

Last winter, Wyatt Strong, a materials science and engineering graduate student, began searching for new intramural activities for RIT students.

He and Srinath Sriram, an industrial engineering graduate student, restarted the formerly defunct cricket club. To their surprise, more than 50 people gathered to play by the club’s second meeting.

Today, the club has more than 180 members and is the fastest growing new intramural sport, based on enrollment figures. The club already hosted two intramural tournaments last winter and spring and a collegiate tournament at RIT this fall, playing against Syracuse University and Cornell University.

“I had never played cricket before, but I knew it would be popular among students while aligning with RIT’s global initiatives,” says Strong, vice president of the club.

Last year, more than 3,500 students participated in intramural sports. With 236 clubs on campus, 30 of which are club sports, students can play anything from basketball to cricket to quidditch.“Cricket is played with passion and is followed religiously worldwide—especially in India, where the majority of our club is from,” explains Sriram, president of the club.

Brennan Coon, assistant director of intramurals, says the students are passionate about the sport, and so are the cheering fans on the sidelines. “I’m sure cricket will continue to grow across campus.”