Reliance ground

ICC Cricket World Cup: On Monday, left-arm wrist-spinner Ansh Patel could walk out at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad – a city 110 kilometres away from Vadodara, where he spent a good 12 years of his life playing and honing his cricketing skills. But instead of India’s blue shirt, Ansh will be wearing Canada’s red jersey when they open their Group D campaign against a mighty South Africa.

Ansh’s path of playing for Canada in the Men’s T20 World Cup is anything but conventional. Born in Vadodara, raised in Toronto before coming back to the city of his birth, Ansh was nurtured in India's domestic system and was even a part of the Punjab Kings side in IPL 2022.

But a regulatory shift – holding an Indian passport being made mandatory for playing domestic cricket - sent Ansh back to Canada, where he now finds himself in their T20 World Cup squad.