Sridhar Ranganathan carried his bat to the stump with his team trailing. He swung and sent the ball over the boundary for a sixer, helping propel his team's comeback win in the Penn State Cricket Club's spring eight-a-side tournament.

The spring cricket tournament was held April 3-5 and included 15 teams from Penn State and other universities.

Cricket is similar to baseball, with players using balls and paddle-like wood bats. A certain number of points are awarded for each hit, depending on where the ball lands.

The Nittany Warriors, consisting of Penn State students, won the championship. They defeated Chennai Super Kings, 49-48.

The Warriors defeated Cheerun-jeevi in the semifinals, while the Super Kings ousted Extreme to earn a spot in the finals.

But for the PSCC, this weekend was more than just a tournament. The main goal of the club is to make cricket popular in the United States and here at Penn State.

"Cricket is played mostly by the Asian community, in England and South Africa," PSCC Vice-President Ranganathan said. "This is a good platform for all of us to play in the USA."

The club was inactive last year. Penn State Club Sports requires each club to be active every year, and for the cricket club to survive, it must conduct two tournaments a year.

"We formed an executive committee and brought the club to the classified section," PSCC President Swagath Janakiraman said.

The fall tournament consisted of only 12 teams. This tournament drew more interest and included 15 teams, with participants from SUNY Buffalo and Indiana University of Pennsylvania. There were also competitors who play in a New York cricket league.

"The increase was one of the main achievements of the club," Janakirman said. "We have increased the knowledge of cricket."

The club is a tightly knit group with everyone being close. The runner-up in the tournament consisted of people who graduated from Penn State but flew back to play cricket.

Since the club plays only once each semester, competitive nature takes over in the big games. The teams do not practice and even taught baseball players how to play cricket for the tournament.

Both teams had tremendous pressure on them in the big game, especially since it was a low scoring match, Janakiraman said.

The spring tournament is just a step towards helping cricket spread at Penn State. The quality of play also helped.

"Last year's tournament was good, but this was far better," Janakiraman said.

"We increased the number of people who wish to play this game."