Team to seek change of venue to play full squad
By K.R. Nayar
Dubai: Though Canada is intent on playing in the 2011 World Cup with its full squad, vice-captain Rizwan Cheema, all-rounder Umar Bhatti and pacer Khurram Chohan, who were all born in Pakistan, have not yet been granted visas by the Indian government.
Speaking to Gulf News at the International Cricket Council (ICC) Global Cricket Academy, Canada coach Pubudu Dassanayake said: “The three players who [were] born in Pakistan are facing visa issues. This is our best team and we do not want to go for a World Cup with a second team.”
Canada have matches in Nagpur against Zimbabwe and against Kenya in New Delhi. They also take on New Zealand in Mumbai and Australia in Bengaluru.
“We want to… sort this matter out and we are expecting the visas before the World Cup. If we cannot get the visas, we would like our matches in India to be [moved] to Sri Lanka or Bangladesh. We want to play with our full team,” said Dassanayake, who has played for Sri Lanka in 11 Test matches and 16 one-dayers.

“We have come here with the full team, including the three players. We are going ahead… with them as we are playing two games in Sri Lanka and even warm-up matches in Bangladesh before the India matches. Four games in India are the problem. So we are hoping the problem will be solved or [that the] ICC will change the venues,” he said.
Tough year
“We have been preparing from last January and we pumped in a lot of youngsters a year ago. It has been a tough year for us in 2010 but luckily things fell into place last November when we were in India,” he added.
“We experienced the Indian conditions and [the] youngsters in the side adapted to their roles and started performing. We have one of the best teams we have ever fielded in a World Cup and we are sure of winning a few games.”