Canada hope to make a splash in second T20 World Cup appearance

Group fixtures

Feb 9: vs South Africa, Ahmedabad (7pm local / 7.30am CST)
Feb 13: vs UAE, Delhi (3pm local / 3.30am CST)
Feb 17: vs New Zealand, Chennai (11am local / 11.30pm CST previous day)
Feb 19: vs Afghanistan, Chennai (7pm local / 7.30am CST)

Big picture

Canada are back after making their maiden appearance at the 2024 T20 World Cup. They will be led by the 23-year-old Dilpreet Bajwa, who is yet to make his captaincy debut. Bajwa is a top-order batter and has taken over captaincy from Nicholas Kirton, who remains part of the squad. Two other former captains, Saad Bin Zafar and Navneet Dhaliwal, will also be around in case Bajwa needs advice.

In the previous edition, Canada had won only one game, against Ireland. So they had to go through the qualification process. It turned out to be a breeze as they won all six of their games in the Americas Regional Final in June.

At this World Cup, they are placed in Group D alongside Afghanistan, New Zealand, South Africa and UAE. All Group D matches will be played in India.

Recent form

Canada haven't played a T20I since the qualifying tournament, but most of their players featured in the Canada Super 60 in October. Last month, they played a few practice games in Sri Lanka against Sri Lanka Emerging team and Oman.

Players to watch

Yuvraj Samra, 19, is the youngest player of the squad. A tall, left-hand opening batter, he has smashed 27 sixes in 16 T20Is and has a strike rate of 160.72 in the format. He also holds the record for the fastest T20I fifty for Canada, off 15 balls, but is yet to play against a Full Member.

At the other end of the age spectrum is Saad Bin Zafar. At 39, the left-arm spinner is the oldest member of the squad. Saad, who has been playing for Canada since 2008, was called up by St Kitts & Nevis Patriots as a replacement player for the CPL 2018 playoffs. In the 2020 edition, he secured an ICC Americas contract with St Lucia Zouks. The following year, he registered figures of 4-4-0-2 in a T20I against Panama.

Seam-bowling allrounder Jaskaran Singh was an IPL winner with Deccan Chargers in 2009. He made his first-class debut against Yorkshire at Headingley for an India A side that had Shikhar Dhawan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane and Wriddhiman Saha. Jaskaran was playing for Chandigarh till as recently as March 2022. He made his debut for Canada only last year but has a wealth of experience to share with his team-mates.

Last hurrah

Saad will be around 41 when the next T20 World Cup comes around. And Dhaliwal around 39. But rule them out at your own risk.

Best XI

1 Navneet Dhaliwal, 2 Yuvraj Samra, 3 Dilpreet Bajwa (capt), 4 Nicholas Kirton, 5 Harsh Thaker, 6 Kanwarpal Tathgur (wk), 7 Jaskaran Singh, 8 Saad Bin Zafar, 9 Shivam Sharma, 10 Dilon Heyliger, 11 Kaleem Sana

Rest of the squad: Ravinderpal Singh, Ajayveer Hundal, Ansh Patel, Shreyas Movva (wk)

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