Cricket: Brampton moves a step closer to become cricket capital of North America

By Prabhjot Singh

By holding the Global T20 Canada tournament, Brampton has taken yet another step forward towards becoming the cricket capital of North America. Cream of the world cricket, including many past and present stars of  the sport will be rubbing shoulders during the GT20 Canada tournament starting July 20.

With less than a week left before the  start of the most-anticipated mega cricket event at the TD Cricket Arena, Brampton Sports Park, it is natural for the city’s Mayor Patrick Brown to share his excitement  of cricket fans in the region. Rampton is the capital of immigrants who come from the major cricket playing nations like India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Guyana, Jamaica, Bangladesh, England and others.

Patrick Brown has a reason to share his excitement. He says “Brampton is the cricket capital of North America. We have the most number of cricket fields in Canada and I believe we will have many more coming up in the near future with ardent fans of the game residing here. We have also called for bids to construct a cricket stadium in Brampton and I am elated to note that we have received bids from India, Dubai and USA.”

Expressing his anticipation to witness global cricketing icons take the field, Brown added, “Brampton is an ideal venue for the third edition of Global T20 Canada and I am very excited to welcome the stars of the game Shahid Afridi, Harbhajan Singh, Yuvraj Singh and Chris Gayle among other marquee players. There is so much excitement among the cricket fans here, I anticipate all the Brampton Wolves (home team) matches to be sold out.”

The League is set to witness swashbuckling marquee players such as Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan, Caribbean all-rounder Andre Russell, Chris Lynn of Australia, New Zealand all-rounder Colin de Grandhomme and Colin Munro, Pakistan’s Shoaib Malik, Iftikhar Ahamed and Mohammed Rizwan and Pretoria’s Rassie van der Dussen and Nottinghamshire’s Alex Hales create headlines for their respective teams.

While the star-studded league features some of the greatest names in T20 cricket, the league also brings with it great opportunity for young and aspiring cricketers in Canada to shine. Lauding the organisers of Global T20 Canada, Saad Bin Zafar, Captain of the Canadian National Team said, “I am very excited to play alongside some of the legends of the game. I believe the Global T20 Canada is a huge opportunity for Canadian cricketers to learn from the experience of playing with these icons and the exposure will undoubtedly help us in improving our own performance and growth in the sport.”

The event will be a major boost for tourism as cricket fans not only from all over North America but the entire world will be making Brampton their home for the duration of the tournament that continues till August 6. It adds to the economy of the city that becomes the capital of sports competitions for expatriates. Incidentally, Brampton will also be holding the Canadian Junior boys and girls field hockey competitions simultaneously.

With six teams in the fray namely Surrey Jaguars, Mississauga Panthers, Toronto Nationals, Brampton Wolves, Montreal Tigers and Vancouver Knights, the tournament promises to showcase top-class cricketing action starting 20th July.

Overwhelmed to witness the support ahead of the third edition of Global T20 Canada, Ashit Patel, Director of Bombay Sports, expressed his gratitude to the Mayor Patrick Brown and the city of Brampton for their continued support. He said, “I thank Mayor Patrick Brown, the city of Brampton, and the Province of Ontario for their support to GT20 in specific and cricket in general. I am also grateful for the incredible support from our key sponsors including TD Bank, Turkish Airlines, Securian, Nissan, and Sick Kids as our official charity partner.”

The opening day will see home team Brampton Wolves take on Mississauga Panthers at 1530 hours at TD Cricket Arena, Brampton Sports Park.