Bhatti to lead Canada Under-19s to Youth World Cup

TORONTO: Left arm medium-pacer Umar Bhatti has been named captain of the Canadian national Under-19 team to participate in the Youth World Cup (YWC) in Bangla-desh next year. Bhatti led the side that triumphed in the Americas championship last summer in the Greater Toronto Area, and participated in the West Indies Under-19 three-day and one-day tournaments in Guyana last summer. Canada are placed in a tough group that includes Australia, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe and start their campaign against defending champions Aus-tralia on February 16. The Canadians will then meet Sri Lanka the following day before taking on Zimbabwe in the final group match on February 19. The top two teams from each group will qualify for the Super League to be played on a league basis.

Canada are among 16 teams in the tournament that was first organised in Australia in 1988. The West Indies Under-19s will be in Group “D”, along with Pakistan, Ireland and Papua New Guinea in the February 15 to March 5 tournament. At the last tournament in New Zealand, the Aussies topped the West Indies in the semi-finals before defeating South Africa in the championship decider. Canada’s squad — Umar Bhatti (captain), Durand Soraine, Gavin Bastiampillai, Trevin Bastiampillai, Muhammad Qazi, Ryan Lall, Kenneth Carto, Soham Anjaria, Karun Jethi, Shaheed Keshvani, Adam Baksh, Simon Upton, Hansen Fernandes and Krunal Patel. The alternates are Kasun Perera, Sumanta Paitya, Andrew Chatterpaul, Jasjet Manjat, Aabid Keshvani, Umer Nawaz. Patrick Christian is the manager while former national player Franklyn Dennis is the coach.