Although not necessarily a common sport to America, the University of Tampa is represented on the field of play by a cricket team. UT’s cricket club is led by team captain Kaushal Vaddiraj.
Vaddiraj had played cricket in India prior to attending UT in the Fall of 2009.
“I realized that a lot of people interested in cricket are graduate students and some undergrad students as well so I decided why not start a cricket club,” said the sophomore.
He also credited the Director of Campus Recreation, Charles Yezak, faculty advisor Dr. Hemant Rustogi and assistant captain Ishan Patel for helping in the creation of the team.
Vaddiraj said that the club was formed last Spring semester, and attention was first focused on just drawing some interest in the team. During this past summer, while Vaddiraj was playing in a local cricket league, he received a call from an organizer of the American College Cricket league, who suggested that UT join.
After becoming a member of American College Cricket this semester, the UT cricket club competed in the Southeast Championship on Nov. 5, 6 and 7.
Including UT, the tournament featured seven teams- the University of Florida, the University of South Florida, the University of Miami, Florida International University, the University of Central Florida and Auburn University.
“Actually when we were going to the tournament, I told my team that we [should not] go in with any expectations, we shouldn’t be disappointed if we lose games because we’re playing against universities that are much, much larger than us,” Vaddiraj said of his expectations going into regionals.
“They have a larger player base where they can pick people from. We don’t have that option.”
Tampa faced off against both USF and UM, defeating Miami but fell short in the matchup to USF.
“We were disappointed we lost to our cross-town rivals, USF, but it was a very close game,” Vaddiraj said.
However, with the one victory, the UT men finished the tournament in third place, earning them a bid in the 2011 American College Cricket Spring Break Championship in March. Thirty-two universities in all will compete for the title.
To further gel as a team, the UT cricket club will play in a tournament at USF this weekend.
However, Vaddiraj explained that this tournament does not have any real implications for the club.
“This is more like a fun tournament, it’s not like a really serious cricket tournament but my expectations anyways are to perform really well and give a good fight and make a name for UT,” he said.
Daniel Feingold can be reached at minaret.sports@gmail.com.
if you’re not shredded as fuck bra i don’t know why you’re in my VIP section. so that means get the F outta here. – Jesus Christ
Go jets.
Sincerely,
Ghandi
thank you sir. i appreciate the explanation.
To sick, crickets do make a lot of noise. I once collected crickets. When you get a hundred or so crickets together they get really loud. That’s how I developed my sleeping disorder.
i didn’t read most of the comments here, but seriously you guys are making this much noise about cricket? who cares?
UT Cricket club is in the same league as USF,Uf,U miami, FIU and UCF and competitive to say the least. And i dont really care about recognition as such but from what i know (I cud b wrong) None of the other UT sports team are competing are in the same league as the big state universities. So all i am saying is that UT should probably take Cricket more seriously than some trash sport(dont wanna name em) at which we arnt good at.
And yeh…
Jillian ki ma ki chut.
I, for one, am glad the Minaret “finally” put this in their paper. I know nothing about Cricket, and I would like to attend a game in order to learn more. I think it is important to recognize the CLUB teams- especially those that are not common in the U.S.
Also, just because it is a club team it doesn’t mean it isn’t a sport. It is considered a sport all over the world- just not in Jillian’s apparently. The school doesn’t have a football team, but it is definitely a sport. Jillian is probably a swimmer or on the track team and thinks she is above everyone. Who cares? Let them be proud of their achievements. This kind of information SHOULD be in the Minaret.
As the Cricket Club we are thankful to the Minaret to publish our achievements but we should be in no way expected to be extra grateful or indebted by that. It is the Minaret’s job to tell students what is going on around the university. Raj did not say that Lacrosse and the Netballers were published in the Newspaper. You should read more carefully. His point is that they are club sports and they are recognized on campus. Similarly the achievements of the Cricket Clubs justify the recognition we have received. Tomorrow the Lacrosse team is playing a Men’s team from Tampa called the Tampa Thunders. Are you saying that should not be recognized and published in the Minaret. @Jiminy Cricket… I do not think we are being arrogant or being disrespectful towards the Minaret. There was a little resentment earlier about not getting enough recognition after the tournament, even though we played at a regional level. In fact we are glad that it has happened at last. We are thankful to the Sports Editor, Daniel Feingold, who was kind enough to make the effort. But you cannot deny the fact that we deserved recognition at some level.
It is very upsetting to see what I assume to be two cricket club members being disrespectful and unappreciative of getting placement in the newspaper. If you are going to be sarcastic and arrogant, don’t expect anyone to care about your team. Rude.
i dont remember seeing netballers, or lacrosse covered..perhaps you can point me into the direction that issue. hockey, yes but then again we have a real hockey team in Tampa. i would have not called your organization (not sport) trash had you not disrepsected the paper with your rude comment in the first place.
So Miss Jillian the Ice Hockey team is a sport at the University now? Is the Spartan Netballers a sport? Is the Lacrosse team a sport at the University? These are all club sports at the University, just like the Cricket Club. If their achievements can be published why not ours? Please do not disrespect the efforts of others by calling it trash. In fact it is remarkable that the Cricket Club played against the biggest Universities in the Region. And given that it is still our first year, the team has performed beyond expectations
you are a CLUB team, not recognized as a sport. you should be on your knees thanking the minaret for covering this trash- not being a tool, maninder
at last they published it after 1 month