Debutants Canada name squad for T20 World Cup tilt
Plenty of experience in Canada's squad as the debutants name their playing group for June's tournament
All-rounder Saad Bin Zafar has been named captain as Canada named an experienced squad for next month's ICC Men's T20 World Cup.
It will be Canada's first appearance at the T20 World Cup and the North American side are drawn in Group A alongside co-hosts USA, India, Pakistan and Ireland.
🚨 TEAM CANADA Squad for the @icc @t20worldcup 🚨
— Cricket Canada (@canadiancricket) May 1, 2024
Let’s go! 🇨🇦#t20worldcup #icc #cricketcanada pic.twitter.com/0CRjrMkwOL
Left-arm orthodox spinner Saad brings a wealth of experience to the Canada team, with top-order batter Aaron Johnson and left-arm seamer Kaleem Sana also expected to feature heavily in a side with just four players under the age of 30.
There was no room in the squad for Nikhil Dutta or Srimantha Wijeyeratne, while Tajinder Singh travels as a reserve.
Canada's first match at the T20 World Cup comes against USA in Dallas on June 1. The Americans won a bilateral series between the teams in early April.
The team is coached by former Sri Lankan and Canadian international Pubudu Dassanayake, having taken the reins in 2022.
Canada squad: Saad Bin Zafar (c), Aaron Johnson, Dilon 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.
All teams are allowed to make changes to their squad until May 25th, after which any alteration will require approval from ICC's Event Technical Committee.