Shalini Gupta
\nHarvir Singh Baidwan knew his dream would remain just that: a dream. Like all other kids, he wanted to play international cricket for India but the closest he ever got to his goal was playing in a Chandigarh-based academy when he was 17.
\nAs he boards the flight to Dhaka later next month, Harvir will be wearing Maple Leaf, the Canadian colours, aware that his dream has come true and that he will be standing on the same platform as his childhood hero, Sachin Tendulkar. Medium pacer Harvir, originally from Raipur Kalan village near Chandigarh, migrated to Canada in 2004 and is one of the two Punjabis in the Canadian World Cup cricket team.
\nOff-spinner Amarbir Singh Hansra, hailing from Ludhiana and popularly known as Jimmy, is the other.
\nBoth are over the moon: \u201cIt would be amazing if Canada get through the first round matches in the World Cup and meet India in the second round,\u201d Harvir told The Indian Express from Dubai, where the team is now training, \u201cIt would be a dream to bowl at Sachin Tendulkar.\u201d
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\nCanada play their first WC match on February 20 against Sri Lanka in Hambantota. Before 2011, Canada participated in World Cups in 1989, 2003 and 2007.<\/p>\n
Harvir was a student at the same school where Abhinav Bindra studied: St Stephen\u2019s in Chandigarh. He said, \u201cIt would have been wonderful if Canada had a game in Mohali. It would have been amazing playing in front of friends back in Chandigarh.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harvir has played in 17 ODIs and scalped 24 wickets. He is one of the six Canadian cricketers who have been given central contracts by Cricket Canada. \u201cIt was difficult to make the Canadians understand that cricket was a global sport and it generated a lot of interest worldwide. I continued playing cricket for a few months and then joined a local club in Toronto. From then on, there was no looking back and I made my international debut against Bermuda in 2008.\u201d<\/p>\n
Amarbir\u2019s family migrated to Canada in 1999 when he was 14. He had started dabbling in the game in Ludhiana but the real push came when he managed to find his way in the Canadian cricket circles. He began with basketball in high school before enrolling himself in University of British Columbia in Abbotsford. He joined a local club and participated in the British Columbia Mainland Cricket League (BCMCL), where he made strides as a cricketer before making his international debut last year.<\/p>\n
\u201cCricket is growing at a very fast pace in Canada. It is because more and more immigrants are coming to Canada from cricket playing nations. In the BCMCL, there are 75 teams taking part in it. The standard of cricket and its infrastructure is improving day by day. I am sure a lot of Canadians will be hooked to TV for World Cup matches,\u201d said the 26-year-old. Jimmy\u2019s father was a Professor in Punjab Agricultural University in Ludhiana and he spent his formative years in Ludhiana (village Kumalpura).
\nBoth cricketers are truly Punjabi at heart. They love makki ki roti with sarson ka saag and dream about a contract with Kings XI Punjab.<\/p>\n
Harvir said, \u201cI would love to take part in the IPL next season and if I am able to get an offer from Kings XI Punjab it would be the icing on the cake. It would be like playing for my own state, Punjab.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Shalini Gupta Harvir Singh Baidwan knew his dream would remain just that: a dream. Like all other kids, he wanted to play international cricket for India but the closest he ever got to his goal was playing in a Chandigarh-based academy when he was 17. As he boards the flight to Dhaka later next month, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.canadacricket.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1131"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.canadacricket.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.canadacricket.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadacricket.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadacricket.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1131"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadacricket.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1131\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1132,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadacricket.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1131\/revisions\/1132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.canadacricket.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadacricket.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadacricket.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}