Nitish Kumar has serious business to attend to during the long rest periods at the Cricket World Cup — armed with a stack of textbooks and notes, the Canadian batsman has his high school homework to complete.
Kumar was only 16 years and 283 days old when he played his first World Cup match at Monday’s Zimbabwe game at Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium and became the youngest player to take part in any World Cup game.
He may have scored only one run facing 10 balls as his team suffered a 175-run loss but the Woburn Collegiate Institute student is thrilled to represent Canada — for the time being.
“It’s a privilege, playing with great players,” he told Reuters in an interview soon after his net practices ahead of another tough Group A game against Pakistan on Thursday.
Even if Kumar proves his batting talent, his team are unlikely to play in the next World Cup in Australia and New Zealand in 2015 as the International Cricket Council has already announced plans to reduce the tournament from 14 to 10 teams.
Canada also have very little or no chance of getting test status in the near future.
“At the moment I am not really concerned about that because the focus is on this World Cup,” said Kumar, who wants to play county cricket in England in the future.
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