ICC T20 World Cup 2024: All-rounder Saad Bin Zafar to lead Canada

Toronto: Canada will make its maiden appearance in the Men’s T20 World Cup with all-rounder Saad Bin Zafar, a player of Pakistani origin, set to lead the side in the showpiece event to be held in the Americas.

The side, comprising mostly of Indian and Pakistani origin players, is placed in Group A alongside co-hosts USA, India, Pakistan and Ireland.

Canada will play its first match against the US in Dallas on June 1, with the side then set to face Ireland on June 7, Pakistan on June 11, and India on June 15.

Canada had defeated Bermuda in October last year in the ICC T20 World Cup Americas Region Final, a double round-robin format, for a berth in the T20 World Cup.

The Canadians had failed to make it to the global event in the eight previous editions of the T20 World Cup.

Saad, 37, who is also a left-arm spinner and has played 38 T20I, is one of the most experienced players in the Canadian side, with top-order batter Aaron Johnson and left-arm seamer Kaleem Sana also expected to feature heavily in the playing XI.

The side is coached by former Sri Lankan and Canadian international Pubudu Dassanayake, who took over the reins in 2022.

Harsh Thaker, Nicholas Kirton, and Dilpreet Bajwa are the only three players in the side under the age of 30.

“Aaron Johnson’s explosive hitting will be critical at the top of the order, as will Kaleem Sana’s pace bowling when Canada is in the field. The all-round skills of Bin Zafar, Thaker, and Dilon Heyliger will be vital to Canada’s hopes of winning on the biggest stage,” said a Cricket Canada statement.

Squad: Saad Bin Zafar (C), Aaron Johnson, Dilon Heyliger, Dilpreet Bajwa, Harsh Thaker, Jeremy Gordon, Junaid Siddiqui, Kaleem Sana, Kanwarpal Tathgur (wk), Navneet Dhaliwal, Nicholas Kirton, Pargat Singh, Ravinderpal Singh, Rayyankhan Pathan, Shreyas Movva (wk).

Reserves: Tajinder Singh, Aaditya Varadharajan, Ammar Khalid, Jatinder Matharu, Parveen Kumar.