Canada name final T20 World Cup squad, Pubudu Dassanayake to continue as head coach after initial turmoil

In an interesting turn of events, Pubudu Dassanayake is set to continue as Canada's head coach for the forthcoming T20 World Cup 2024, after initially being informed by assistant manager and Cricket Canada vice president Gurdeep Klair to expect to be relieved of his duties after a warm-up tour to St Kitts.

Former Sri Lankan cricketer Dassanayake was told on Wednesday that his services would not be needed during next month's big-ticket ICC (International Cricket Council) event. However, after a board meeting on the same evening, it was decided that Dassanayake would continue at least till the conclusion of Canada's T20 World Cup 2024 campaign.

"Hopefully we can put this all behind us, we'll be focussing on the cricket, the team has worked very hard to get here and we're looking forward to our first match." Dassanayake told Cricbuzz.

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Apart from the retention of Dassanayake, the final squad confirmed by Cricket Canada on Friday, May 24, featured several significant changes. Spinner Nikhil Dutta, who had been excluded from the provisional squad, has made the cut for the final 15, while left-arm speedster Rishiv Joshi is also part of the final squad. However, batter Kanwarpal Tathgur and spin all-rounder Harsh Thaker have failed to earn call-ups.

Notably, Thaker took to social media to slam the way in which he was left out of the squad, saying he felt "betrayed and disresepected" by the lack of communication. Thaker, who is recuperating from an injury, was omitted from the squad on fitness grounds. He was disappointed that the decision was taken before a planned fitness test had taken place.

"It was determined that Thaker would not be fit to play the four matches in the Group Stage" a Cricket Canada spokesman clarified.

Canada are placed in Group A alongside India, Pakistan, Ireland, and the USA in the T20 World Cup. Saad bin Zafar and Co. will be in action in the first game of the showpiece event on Saturday, June 1 against the USA in Dallas. Ahead of this clash, Canada will play two warm-up games against Nepal and Netherlands on May 27 and May 31 respectively.

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Canada Squad: Saad bin Zafar (c), Aaron Johnson, Ravinderpal Singh, Navneet Dhaliwal, Nicholas Kirton, Shreyas Movva, Nikhil Dutta, Pargat Singh, Rayyankhan Pathan, Dilpreet Bajwa, Dilon Heyliger, Junaid Siddiqui, Jeremy Gordon, Kaleem Sana, Rishiv Joshi

Coach: Pubudu Dassanayake, Assistant coach: Khurram Chohan, Assistant manager: Gurdeep Klair