The game of cricket has become a passionate sport for students and faculty at Iowa State.

Pallab Datta, president of the ISU Cricket Club, grew up in India and said cricket is the most popular sport in his native country.

“I started playing cricket when I was a young kid. [Cricket] is like American baseball and football over,” Datta said. “I used to play cricket when I was an undergrad on my college team, in India, and when I came to Iowa State, I still wanted to play.”

Now the players will have a real pitch to play on.

Games used to be played on the soccer fields at Maple-Willow-Larch, and now a new cricket pitch field is being completed at the Towers Intramural Field. It is slated to be finished Dec. 19.

Mike Harvey, director of Recreation Services, said the new field cost $7,000, which is split between recreation services and the club.

“The field is laid out strategically,” Harvey said. “The cricket pitch is in the middle, and there is room for soccer fields on the east and west. It is a multi-field for multiple uses: Soccer, flag football, frisbee.”

Datta said there will be more tournaments in town since they now have a true home field.

“We went to Omaha, Des Moines and Moline last year. Now we will have teams come up here,” Datta said.

“Having cricket is important so that students and faculty from different countries who are interested in playing the game can participate,” he said.

Club treasurer Ashok Guru agreed and said there are many people from all over who enjoy the game. Guru thought there was a need for a club at Iowa State.

“We thought, why not start a cricket club at Iowa State University so everyone gets to play the game they want to play,” Guru said.

The game of cricket has been going on for over four centuries. The sport was started in England and then moved to some of its colonies: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and a few African nations. Cricket is also widely played in Australia, Holland and Sri Lanka.

Iowa State has two teams, the Cardinal and the Gold. Both teams compete in the Midwest Cricket League with three teams from Des Moines, one from Omaha, and one from Moline, Ill.

Currently, there are plans to merge the Midwest League with the league of Kansas City.

“When the two leagues merge together there will be about twenty teams in the league,” Datta said. “We had 24 games in the summer this year. It will be pretty hectic when we have the merger.”

Although Datta said the competition is better overseas, he said that leagues in the United States are also fine.

“I think the California clubs are very good. The clubs in New Jersey and Texas are also good,” Datta said. “But you don’t know for sure unless you compete against them. The Midwest League that we are in is also very good, but better competition is still overseas.”