Cricket Student Association helps international students feel right at home through a familiar game

The Cricket Student Association (CSA) held their third tournament Sept. 16 in the SSCB parking lot. CSA was founded Sept. 12, 2016 and held their previous two tournaments Nov. 2 and Feb. 18.

CSA Co-President and computer science major Raj Vadhi said that he helped create CSA because he wanted to carry on the tradition of cricket while also introducing it to new people.

“UHCL has a lot of international students who come from the South Asia part of the world where cricket is a very big sport,” Vadhi said. “We wanted to give a chance [to play] to the students who know how to play cricket, but also to educate the others who do not know about cricket, and to promote cricket in general.”

Seven total matches were played among six teams across three rounds. Lines were marked in the parking lot with white tape and the wickets were stood up on the concrete.

The six teams that competed were: Houston Hurricanes, White Walkers, Indori Warriors, Jambal Hearts, Houston Chargers and Clear Lake Eagles.

The Clear Lake Eagles defeated the White Walkers in the championship game to win the tournament. The Eagles’ winning roster consisted of 4 players: Charith Daggupati, Karthik Reddy, Nidhi Parikh and Aditya Teega.

“Everything I did was to have fun, see new smiles and shake hands,” said Akshay Badiyannavar, management information systems major and CSA participant. “It was a memorable event that I [will forever] cherish about UHCL. Thanks to CSA and ISA (Indian Student Association) for organizing this much needed event.”

Vadhi said that this tournament was intentionally made up of mostly new students in order to help them become more integrated with the UHCL community.

“We had almost 12 teams registered, but we had to stick to six teams due to time restrictions,” Vadhi said. “We try to include alumni too. Today, there are new students, current students and alumni all playing together.”

CSA uses a Google form for students to sign up for each tournament. The Sept. 16 tournament was the first time that there was not a participation fee in order for students to join. Vadhi said that CSA hoped the removal of the fee would help convince more new students to join.

CSA also recruits many students who often play cricket in the parking lot of the Delta building to join their league.

Information and updates on future CSA events can be found on their Facebook and Instagram pages, “UHCL Cricket Student Association.”