As a wave of cricket-fever makes its way across the U.S., it sweeps close to a club rising to the limelight right here on campus: the Comet Cricket Club.
The club is a student organization focused on building a cricketing environment at UTD. With a focus on no particular skill level, the club invites members of any age group who have an interest in the sport to come out and play. While the playing team is limited to 11 people, the overall team boasts 60 members who simply enjoy being out on the field.
“Anyone who’s interested in joining the club can come in, even if it’s just a passionate fan, or an enthusiast,” Firasuddin Syed, the club’s captain and business analytics master’s student, said.
In a successful tournament this past year at the National College Cricket Association, the team faced several other colleges such as University of Florida in the finals. The game is known for requiring patience and strategic thinking throughout, with no one moment setting the game in stone.
“It’s a very strategic and calm mindset we have, opposed to an aggressive mindset,” Syed said. “It’s controlled aggression, and we let our young players come through with their ideas in the match.”
It’s a very strategic and calm mindset we have, opposed to an aggressive mindset.
— Firasuddin Syed, Comet Cricket Club captain
Many club members find themselves involved in various pursuits involving cricket. Some hope for a future with cricket in it, whether it is as a hobby or professionally, and join local leagues to get additional practice — such as Dallas Xforia Giants in Syed’s instance. While the club faces limited funding and only recent access to the UTD cricket grounds, Aryan Pathak, club president and computer science junior, said this holistic passion for the sport is what fuels the team.
“Because we are always running short on funding, a lot of time we pay from our own pockets, and [fees] can go as high as 100 bucks per person,” Pathak said. “But [we] don’t mind that because [we] have the passion and everyone plays for each other.”
The club focuses on a short format of the game which features either 10 or 20 overs, compared to other formats in the game which are 50 overs and the test format which spans five full days of cricket. Syed said that while the short form games they play require explosiveness and intensity from the batter, smart bowling along with more excitement from the crowds, enthusiasm for test cricket’s and its entry to the U.S. is a hope many cricketers share.
“I think the authentic form of the game is test cricket, it needs a lot of resilience, patience and requires a combination of skill and application and that’s really what tests you,” Syed said. “As cricketers, that’s what we strive towards, and right now the U.S. is not a test nation, but I am sure eventually U.S. cricket is going to grow to a point where [it is there].”
I think the authentic form of the game is test cricket, it needs a lot of resilience, patience and requires a combination of skill and application and that’s really what tests you.
— Firasuddin Syed, Comet Cricket Club captain
A captain’s role in any team requires them to look beyond their own gameplay and evaluate their players to see how they can improve. Syed said a large part of the group’s growth comes from finding close friends within the team, building bonds and camaraderie through travel tournaments and hangouts. Through it all, his mentality as captain remained unwavering in focusing on each player’s process instead of just wins and losses.
“I am judging a player by the effort they put in and the application they put on the ground,” Syed said. “It is a game of odds, so you never want to judge a player by the result.”
Syed found a passion for cricket when he was eight, a bat in his hand, and eventually grew to represent his state of Hyderabad. For Pathak, cricket began as a pastime with his friends in local parks until he eventually made the team during the eighth grade. For a few years, though, he lost touch with the game. It was joining UTD that reignited his spark to play.
“I usually treat cricket as an experimentation ground for the stuff I want to apply in my academics, and daily life,” Pathak said. “Cricket taught me resilience, I almost failed [a] class based on [a] midterm, [but] because I had the belief in myself, I came back.”
This past October, the NCL USA Sixty Strikes Tournament was held at UTD’s cricket Field with various teams competing over 10 days, drawing large crowds and seeing a few legendary players such as Sachin Tendulkar and Chris Gayle making appearances. While cricket has been a sport long dominant in South Asia and the eastern hemisphere, Syed said it is tournaments like this that change what cricket means to U.S. audiences.
“I started my graduate school in [fall] ’24 and I have already seen a huge difference in cricket,” Syed said. “There are numerous [people] representing their colleges [in cricket], especially with NCL coming to UTD. We never would have imagined international players playing in our own cricket field.”
We never would have imagined international players playing in our own cricket field.
— Firasuddin Syed, Comet Cricket Club captain
As club president, Pathak said he has three goals for the future: to reclaim the ground they play on, focus on getting funding and building group synergy by establishing people to help take care of the cricket grounds. With the first one accomplished, the rest of his time is dedicated toward the rest. Syed said he hopes UTD becomes known for their cricket team and build an environment that invites new players.
Those interested in joining the club can follow the club’s Instagram and join the WhatsApp group linked on the page. Tryout information is updated at the beginning of every semester. The club practices Thursday and Friday evenings to accommodate the student lifestyle in the Lords sports complex, located in Plano. The team’s next season begins in March against various college teams.
“Sports mimic life, you can translate it into your real life too,” Pathak said. “Cricket is my passion — people say it is a hobby, but it is a bit more than that.”