“I was born Hindu, but converted to cricket,” says Ankush Bhasin.

A UI graduate student, Bhasin is one of the millions of people who have fallen in love with one of the most popular sports on Earth.

But after playing the game since childhood in India, he had no cricket team to play on at the UI.

Until now.

Last month, the university became the last school in the Big Ten to approve a club team for the bat-and-ball game.

Vaibhav Yadev, also a UI graduate student who helped found the club with Bhasin, said the club was long-awaited after years of pickup games.

“We were just 15 to 20 guys, and we used to play at Roosevelt [Elementary School],” Yadev said. “But then, we realized that the University of Iowa is the only university around that does not have an official cricket club.”

The two prepared a presentation to get sanctioning for the new club. Since attaining the official status, the group has 20 to 25 members who will make up the team following second-semester tryouts.

The majority of those players won’t be from the United States.

Arvind Namasivayam, a sophomore at the University of Michigan who helped found the school’s cricket club this year, said the same applies to his campus squad. Most of the players are from India, Pakistan, or Sri Lanka — countries where cricket is popular.

Namasivayam said he’s been playing cricket since he was young, and to sell his sport, he compares it with a game many Americans have played since childhood: baseball.

The comparison isn’t far-fetched. Cricket requires a bat and a leather ball and is composed of innings.

But the scoring, number of players, and protective gear is all different.

“It’s very comparable with baseball, but the ways in which you bat and throw to pitch the ball are done in a lot different manner,” said Doug Burkhart, an Ohio State senior who supervises intramural indoor cricket.

Burkhart, who hadn’t played the sport before college, said that while he enjoyed playing pickup games, most Americans may not catch on because children in the United States may choose to play other sports.

Bhasin said many Americans have dismissed the sport because of its notoriously long nature.

Traditionally, a game can take up to five days to complete.

But with a new version on the rise, schools and clubs are taking up the game like never before.

Twenty20 was introduced in 2003 as a faster form of the game meant to last three-and-a-half hours. Those who champion the game believe this may gain popularity in America.

“[The five-day] format cannot be very popular. It does not have the excitement,” Yadev said, and he thinks Twenty20 is also much more exciting for spectators. “In a T20 situation, [momentum] might tilt in either team’s favor even after a single ball is pitched. You just are glued to your seats as you are watching it.”

Playing the new form of the game may be helpful in attracting first-timers to the sport as well. The UI cricket club will offer clinics for newcomers and will play a tournament using a tennis ball instead of the regulation hard leather ones.

Those who have played the sport for much longer say club cricket is one of the best way to spread their favorite game.

“The U.S. has a great potential for cricket,” Namasivayam said.