Nikhil Dutta bowling in the TDCA Elite league, July 11 2015 – while Canada played in the WC T20 qualifier in Scotland

The facts now seem to be clear. Nikhil Dutta, one of Canada’s best players, was barred from taking part in the elite Caribbean Premier League by Cricket Canada as they wanted him to represent Canada in the T20 World Cup qualifier, yet when he made himself available, refused to select him.

Nikhil Dutta battled his way through a demanding selection camp, and was one of only two young players from the Americas to make the squad of a Caribbean Premier League team (the St. Kitt’s Patriots) – presumably along with a contract that made it worth his while. Cricket Canada had supported his attendance at the CPL selection camp.

He went through the appropriate channels, received a NOC (no objection certificate) from Cricket Canada, and headed off to test his skills against some of the best in the game. He was not named in Canada’s original squad for the ICC World Cup qualifier.

At this point the story gets confusing. As far as we can determine, the sequence of events is as follows:

• At some point Cricket Canada asked him to join the national team squad competing at the ICC World T20 Qualifier in Scotland.
• Dutta communicated this request to the management of the Patriots; the Patriots contacted Cricket Canada and an agreement was reached whereby Dutta would leave the Patriots in time to join Canada two days prior to their first match.
• Cricket Canada subsequently contacted Dutta and demanded that he leave the Patriots immediately to join the team in Canada for practice (two weeks prior to Canada’s first match) or withdraw from the squad. Faced with a difficult choice, the young man indicated he wanted to stay with his CPL team.
• Ron Fanfair’s article in Share, indicates that Ingleton Liburd, Cricket Canada GM, subsequently arranged to meet with Dutta in St. Kitts to try and sort out the situation. There appeared again to be an understanding that Dutta could remain with the Patriots, and join Canada in Scotland just prior to the tournament.
• A day later, Cricket Canada chose Hiral Patel as the replacement player for Dutta.
• Dutta played in three matches for the Patriots with some success (notably dismissing Kevin Petersen). On July 1st, Cricket Canada revoked his NOC, making him ineligible to play any more matches. His last match for St. Kitts was June 30 – and Canada’s first match in Scotland was not until July 10.

This left Dutta unable to play in the CPL, and he was not selected for the national team – he returned to Canada to play league cricket. CricInfo contacted Cricket Canada and got this comment from CC President Vimal Hardat.:

“It was an internal decision after carefully going over the intent and deliberation from the player of not wanting to represent Canada even though Cricket Canada sent the players to the CPL camp,” Hardat responded in an email. “The purpose to send players was to not only showcase our talent pool to the CPL but also prepare players for the qualifiers. It was a hard decision that has been taken and we have replaced Nikhil Dutta with Hiral Patel.”

Cricket Canada’s actions can be defended up to the point that Dutta was not asked to join the national team in Scotland – they had invested in the development of this talented player, and needed him to be part of the team for an important tournament.

The logic from there on is hard to follow. Revoking the NOC ensured that Dutta had a choice – to go home, or to play for Canada. Given the player had indicated that he was available to play for the national team, to then not select him appears from the outside to be an act of petty spite. It in essence told the player “you chose the CPL over Canada, so we won’t let you play in the CPL, and because we were not your first choice, you can’t play for us either”.

The implications of these actions need to be considered. Cricket Canada do not have a mission statement or anything similar on their site but it would be reasonable to think that a national sporting body has among its objectives success at international level, and development of players.

Supporting Dutta at the CPL talent ID camp certainly was a positive step in terms of player development. Selecting the best possible team for an important international competition also would be a pre-requisite for international success. Dutta undoubtedly merits inclusion in the national team based on his ability- the fact that he was only one of two players from the Americas who was selected for a CPL team confirms this. He was also clearly Canada’s best bowler at the Americas T20 tournament in May. Therefore insisting that the player join the national team instead of playing in the CPL makes sense. Revoking the NOC means the player can’t choose between the CPL or national team. But to revoke the NOC and then not select a player willing to play means firstly Canada did not play with their best team, and secondly, important opportunities for developing a talented young player were lost.

The actions also need to be explained to the St. Kitts Patriots, and to ICC Americas. The efforts made to include young players from the Americas in the CPL to help in development hardly seem worthwhile when their national body prevents them from playing. It is worth noting that Stephen Taylor (USA), continues to play for his CPL team.

The non-selection of Dutta might be defendable if Canada had performed well at the tournament- but they did not win a game, and the bowling in particular was poor.

Vimal Hardat’s explanation to CricInfo does little to dispel the impression that this sequence of decisions was far from being in the best interests of cricket in Canada, and certainly seems manifestly unfair to the player involved. There may be an explanation that is not readily apparent to the outsider, and I encourage Cricket Canada to provide it. Canada Cricket Online would be happy to publish any such explanation.

The scheduling conflict between the CPL and the World T20 qualifier was unfortunate and put both Cricket Canada and Nikhil Dutta in a difficult situation. It has not been handled well. Nikhil Dutta is a talented player and Canada need him as they struggle to regain their position as an Associate to be reckoned with. It is to be hoped that all parties can move on from this unfortunate situation, and he can continue to represent the national team.

Dave Liverman (for Canada Cricket Online)