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ToggleCricket Canada has declared their 15-member squad for the upcoming 2024 T20 World Cup, set to place in the West Indies and the United States of America (USA), from the first week of June.
They are placed in the challenging group A, where they will meet the likes of Ireland, the co-hosts USA, the inaugural champions of the tournament- India, and the 2009 champions Pakistan.
Last year, during the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Americas Region Final, Canada beat Bermuda by 39 runs in Hamilton to earn the tickets for their first T20 World Cup.
Deciding to bat first, they put on 132/4 in 18 overs, thanks to the 45-run knock from opener Navneet Dhaliwal. Two three-wicket hauls from Kaleem Sana and Jeremy Gordon destroyed the opposite side for 93 for the comfortable victory.
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Canada unveils maiden T20 World Cup Squad for the 2024 edition
The squad of the Canada side looks to be in a good balance of season campaigners and some young promising talents. They have the skills of delivering on the big stage with excellent performances.
The left-arm seamer Kaleem Sana, who was the hero of the region final, has found a spot in the squad along with Canada’s left-arm orthodox spinner Saad. Top-order batter Aaron Johnson is expected to play a huge role in their team’s maiden campaign.
Quite surprisingly, both off-spinner Nikhil Dutta, who has 24 T20I wickets in 24 games at an economy of just 6.35, and Srimantha Wijeyeratne- the wicket-keeper batter who has managed 261 T20I runs at a strike rate of 121.96.
The 37-year-old all-rounder Saad Bin Zafar, who has 272 runs in 38 T20s at a strike rate of 133.39, besides picking up 43 wickets at an economy of 6.41 has been given the leading duties.
The all-rounder Junaid Siddiqui, who is not very famous for his T20 performances so far with 51 T20I runs at a strike rate of 113.33 and 14 wickets in 20 innings at an economy of 5.37, has also been added.
The former Canada batter Pubudu Bathiya Dassanayake, who took the reins back in 2022, will coach the team for the tournament.
The 2024 T20 World Cup Squad of Canada:
Saad Bin Zafar (c), Aaron Johnson, Dillon Heyliger, Dilpreet Bajwa, Harsh Thaker, Jeremy Gordon, Junaid Siddiqui, Kaleem Sana, Kanwarpal Tathgur, Navneet Dhaliwal, Nicholas Kirton, Pargat Singh, Ravinderpal Singh, Rayyankhan Pathan, Shreyas Movva.
Reserves: Tajinder Singh, Aaditya Varadharajan, Ammar Khalid, Jatinder Matharu, Parveen Kumar.
The Canadian side will begin their campaign against hosts USA on June 2. The clash at Grand Prairie Stadium in Dallas will be high intense affair between the two sides. The fixture will also hold significance after the USA’s recent win in a bilateral series over Canada in early April.
Canada will take on India in their last group A game on June 15 at the Central Broward Regional Park Stadium Turf Ground in Lauderhill, Florida.