Fresh faces and a record turnout showed up to play cricket in the fourth annual Iowa State Premiere League Tournament.

The tournament was scheduled to take place April 12-13, but the cricket club was forced to postpone day two of the event until April 19 because of rain.

Of the eight teams to participate in the event, the Spartans came out on top in the tournament by defeating the Lions in the Championship. Team captain of the Spartans, Ganesh Upadhyaya, won his first-ever league tournament after finishing runner-up the past two years.

“I’ve been on the losing side for the past two years in the same tournament, so it’s really nice to win this time,” Upadhyaya said.

Tanzil Rahman, graduate student in computer science, was also crowned tournament champion for the first time.

“As an ISU student, I had won every tournament here except this one,” Rahman said. “I told my wife I was going to win this one this time.”

The idea for the tournament originated four years ago as an opportunity for cricket players of various nationalities to join together and play in the same tournament.

Each year, there is an auction before the tournament where six or seven team captains bid on a pool of players using virtual money. This year’s auction took place March 29.

The tournament is the biggest cricket event of the year hosted by Iowa State, and this year a record 65 players competed at the event.

“We saw so many new faces, which were not even club members but wanted to play,” said Bishwo Paudel, club vice president.

Of the 65 players to compete in the tournament, around 20 of them play for the club team.

“During the [tournament], everyone gets mixed up,” said Sannel Patel, club president. “Everyone gets to play with more people, and you learn about other people when playing in this.”

Unlike the tournaments the Cricket Club will play in this summer, the Iowa State Premiere League Tournament was just for fun and for the chance to earn bragging rights for a year before next year’s event.

“The tournaments that are upcoming are real format of cricket, real cricket ball,” Rahman said. “[This tournament] is for fun, fun cricket. The upcoming tournaments are competitive and professional. You have to gear up, and play properly.”

The Cricket Club is a member of the Heartland Cricket League and will compete in its first tournament of the summer league next weekend.

“It’s just a tournament that can help out players actually represent America and play national cricket for America,” Patel said.