Cricket Canada has announced its 15-man squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup 2024, which begins on June 1 in the United States of America (USA) and the West Indies. All-rounder Saad bin Zafar will lead 15 teams for the two-year tournament. Notable changes from the original squad for Canada were the exclusion of Harsh Thaker and Kanwarpal Tathgur. Additionally, a Cricket Canada spokesperson explained that Thakar will not be eligible to participate in the tournament. The official said, “It has been decided that Thakar will not be fit to play all four matches at the first-team level.”
The team has yet to name a tour reserve, while the final 15 includes off-spinner Nikhil Dutta, who was dropped in the first season, and left-arm pacer Rishvi Joshi. Apart from this, Cricket Canada also made it clear that former Sri Lankan cricketer Pubudu Dassanayake will continue as the head coach of the team despite being told by Cricket Canada’s assistant and vice president at first to remove his work.
“I think we can put all this behind us. We will focus on cricket, the team has worked hard to reach here and we are looking forward to our first match,” Dassanayake told Cricbuzz.
In addition, Canada is in Group A alongside India, Pakistan, and Ireland, and it supports the United States in the 2024 T20 World Cup. They will meet USA fans in the opening game of the tournament on June 1 (Saturday) at Grand Prairie Stadium in Dallas.
Canada’s 2024 T20 World Cup Team
Saad bin Zafar (C), Aaron Johnson, Ravinderpal Singh, Navneet Dhaliwal, Nicholas Kirton, Shreyas Movva, Nikhil Dutta, Pargat Singh, Rayyankhan Patan, Dilpreet Bajwa, Dilon Heyliger, Junaid Siddiqui, Jeremy Gordon, Kaleem Sana, Rishiv Joshi.
Canadian team management:
Pubudu Dassanayake (Manager), Khurram Chohan (Assistant Manager), Gurdeep Klair (Assistant Manager)
Read also: Phil Simmons joins Papua New Guinea as ‘specialist coach’ for T20 World Cup 2024
