Canada has announced its squad for the ICC T20 World Cup 2026 and named a new young captain in Dilpreet Bajwa to lead the side in its second T20 World Cup. One of the former IPL campaigners has also been selected for the marquee tournament in India.
Canada will play the second T20 World Cup in its history after playing the previous edition in 2024. They also made it to this edition after winning the Americas Regional Finals, where they remained undefeated in the 6-match series.
Canada has been drawn in the same group with South Africa, New Zealand, Afghanistan and the United Arab Emirates. They will begin their campaign against South Africa on February 9 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
Canada has appointed Dilpreet Bajwa as the new captain for the ICC T20 World Cup 2026.
22-year-old youngster Dilpreet Bajwa has been named the captain of the Canada team for its second consecutive entry in the ICC T20 World Cup. This young player has played 9 ODI matches and 17 T20I matches for Canada.
With four half-centuries, he has scored nearly 400 runs for Canada and has impressed with the bat in the shortest format of the game. In the T10 competition in Canada, he played explosive innings of 57* off 18 balls and 68* off 22 balls.
Apart from him, young opening batsman Yuvraj Samra will be a key campaigner with an impressive strike rate. After this, he also has players like former captain Saad Bin Zafar. Kaleem Sana, Dilon Heiliger, Nicholas Kirton and Navneet Dhaliwal are among the other big names in the squad.
Team Canada looks like a combined India-Pakistan team
Canada has revealed its squad for the upcoming tie at the ICC T20 World Cup 2026, which will be co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka. He has been placed in the same group as many of the greats of the game and will mostly play his games in India.
Many players are facing visa related problems due to their country of origin and passport being Pakistani. The Canadian team seems to be the second team made up of Indian and Pakistani players. Former captain, Saad Bin Zafar – a Pakistani – is certainly an example, while new captain, Dilpreet Bajwa, has parents of Indian origin.
Canada T20 World Cup squad: Dilpreet Bajwa (captain), Ajayveer Hundal, Ansh Patel, Dilan Helaiger, Harsh Thaker, Nicholas Kirton, Ravinderpal Singh, Saad Bin Zafar, Jaskarandeep Buttar, Kaleem Sana, Kanwarpal Tathgur, Navneet Dhaliwal, Shivam Sharma, Shreyas Movva and Yuvraj Samra.
Former PBKS player selected by Canada for T20 World Cup in India
Ansh Patel, one of the spinners selected by Canada for the upcoming World Cup, has some experience in India, as he was once a part of the IPL with Punjab Kings, a franchise that picked him back in 2022, although he did not feature in any games for them.
Born in 2002 in Vadodara, Gujarat, the spinner bowls left-arm spin and also played under-19 cricket for Baroda before moving to Canada and playing in international matches. He has represented Canada in 5 T20I matches and has managed to take 5 wickets with best figures of 2/7.
This will be the World Cup debut for the 23-year-old wrist spinner and will also be the youngster’s homecoming.
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