Patel’s passion for cricket opens doors

16-year-old got tryout for Canadian under-19 World Cup team  

By Darren Steinke
Gordie Howe Sports Complex

Shaurya Patel is one of Cricket Saskatoon’s elite junior players.

Shaurya Patel loves the game of cricket, and he believes the sport loves him back.

When his family moved from India to Canada seven years ago, the 16-year-old wanted to continue in the sport he was passionate about. No matter where his family went, Patel found doors kept opening for him to continue in the sport.

“I started playing like when I was three or four years old,” said Patel. “I moved to Canada.

“My dad was like there is an academy here (in Saskatoon), if you want to join. I am like, “OK. I should.” I came here and met Harpartap (Harry) Sandhu my coach.

“He supported me a lot, and I’m here now.”

Patel joined Cricket Saskatoon’s junior program in 2023. When he signed up, Patel didn’t know anyone, but he found he bonded with the existing group of players and coaches quickly.

In September of 2023, Patel found himself playing for the Meewasin Masters squad that won the Saskatoon Junior Cricket League under-15 title. He found Masters captain Aryan Patel to be one of his early backers and developed a fast friendship with him.

“Aryan Patel supported me a lot,” said Shaurya Patel, who has trained a number of times at the Indoor Training Centre on the Gordie Howe Sports Complex grounds. “He is the one who trusted me in battling, in bowling and in all things.

“When I got a little older, I knew all the people. Lots of people came after I came.”

Patel said he found a home with the cricket community in Saskatoon. Away from the game, he said everyone treats each other well. When it comes to game time, Patel said the focus turns to what needs to be done to succeed in the match.

“It is amazing,” said Patel, who stands 5-foot-6 and weighs 128 pounds. “They all are so thankful.

“I love them like friends. Inside the ground when the match starts, we’re not friends. We’re teammates.”

Sandhu, who is the youth head coach for Cricket Saskatoon, has enjoyed coaching Patel since the youngster came aboard. The field boss said Patel always wants to learn new things and adapt to challenges. On top of wanting to learn new things, Sandhu was impressed by the fact Patel hasn’t complained about any of the instructions he has received from his coaches.

Shaurya Patel tried out for the Canadian under-19 World Cup team. 

“Coaching Shaurya, it has been quite a bit of a journey,” said Sandhu. “He started here three years ago.

“He played a little bit of cricket on the streets here with his dad, and then his grandfather was a cricketer, so cricket was in his genes. He is a quick learner. The most important thing about Shaurya is he is a very like a hard-headed guy.

“Whenever it requires for him to stay on the crease – crease means to stay on the wicket – not to get out, he tries to stay as long as he can. He is a very competitive guy in cricket.”

This past May, Patel’s journey in cricket took a new exciting turn. Cricket Canada announced he was a probable for the Canadian under-19 World Cup team and was to attend a preparation camp in Vancouver. Patel almost couldn’t believe the news when he was informed by Sandhu.

“I almost cried then,” said Patel, who is a Grade 11 student at Centennial Collegiate. “I am like, “You’re joking.”

“Then, he showed me the things and all. I was just really happy. Then, I was selected from B.C., so I went to Ontario to do my best in Ontario.

“It was just amazing.”

Patel was announced this past July as being on the shortlist of 32 players for the main selection camp for the Canadian under-19 World Cup team in Toronto. Sandhu was pleased with how Patel played during that journey, even with ultimately not being able to make the Canadian under-19 World Cup team this time around.

“We took him to Vancouver there were the Western Canadian tryouts were happening,” said Sandhu. “He scored the highest runs there.

“From there, he got selected and he (went) to Toronto where the big camp happened. He kind of didn’t get the right chance there. He was supposed to bat one down, which means when one batter gets out he needs to bat second.

“He only got chance one, and he didn’t perform. It is still an excuse, but we were hoping that he would get more chances when he went down east playing with the other guys.”

Looking back at the Ontario camp, Sandhu said the biggest adjustment Patel had to make was seeing how fast the bowlers at that camp threw the ball.

Shaurya Patel enjoys the Cricket community in Saskatoon.

“When he plays out there, there are kids from Toronto, and they have been training all year round,” said Sandhu. “With us being in Saskatoon, we have a problem with indoor facilities.

“We don’t get the proper run ups, especially with bowlers. When you get the bowlers who are bowling about 135 to 138 kilometres per hour, that is a problem where our kids can’t really compete at that level. It is not that they can’t.

“It is that they haven’t practiced on those speeds yet.”

Sandhu believes Patel would have a better chance to make the Canadian roster, if he had more experience against bowlers who can throw the ball at elite speeds for his age group.

“The only issue is exposure,” said Sandhu. “Exposure to the extreme speeds, he doesn’t have it here in Saskatoon.

“I think he needs more competition now, and once he is getting into that level of competition he is getting better, which I have seen so far. He is a very quick learner, so he adapts so good at those things.”

Patel would love to crack the roster of one of Cricket Canada’s national teams one day. He added all the junior players he plays with and against inside the Cricket Saskatoon junior program have those same aspirations too.

“It is not only my dream,” said Patel. “All the people who play here it is their dream to play for Canada.

“They do their best to represent in Canada. That is what I am doing. I’ll do my best to get on an actual Canadian team and play World Cup.”

Sandhu said the sky was the limit for how far Patel could go in the sport. The veteran coach said other doors may open in the future for his young player noting B.C. Place in Vancouver is hosting a new indoor league in the Canada Super 60 tournament.

“We went there this fall, and there was a big tournament happening,” said Sandhu. “They pay you good money, if you represent any of those teams.

“If he is playing good, there is a chance that there are many leagues coming up, and he is going to compete. If he is going to compete and he is good, those teams they are going to pay him hefty. They are going to pay him like 30,000 to 40,000 U.S. dollars per season.”

As for Patel, he wants to play the sport for as long as he can.

Shaurya Patel aims to play cricket long into the future.

“I want to play this forever,” said Patel. “Cricket has to support me as well.

“I want to play this forever. I’ll try my best for that. If I get on Canada’s team or something, then I will have to play forever.

“I’ll try my best for that. All people here want to play forever. That is why they are here.”

For more information about Cricket Saskatoon, feel free to check out their website at www.cricketsaskatoon.com.

Cricket on cusp of boom in Saskatoon

Players use Complex while new facilities sought for sport

By Darren Steinke
Gordie Howe Sports Complex

A young cricket player practices making a defensive hit.

Cricket in Saskatoon is on the verge of having a boom, but the potential boom could be deflated before it really gets going.

That is a scenario Bishwajit Sanyal, who is the President of Cricket Saskatoon, wants to avoid. Incorporated in 2003, Cricket Saskatoon plugged along with a modest number of players for a lengthy stretch.

In recent years, the sport has seen a spike in growth. Sanyal said two years ago there were 200 adult players taking part in the sport and that number has since grown to 400. He added in 2021 the sport had 10 teams, it grew to 14 teams last year and there could be 22 teams this year.

Sanyal said the fact there was a cricket community in Saskatoon helped keep him in the sport when he moved to the city from Dhaka, Bangladesh, in 2015. His involvement in the sport locally grew from being a player, to a junior coach in 2019, to taking on Cricket Saskatoon’s Vice-President’s role in 2022 and becoming the organization’s President last year.

“When I moved to Canada, I never ever thought I would play cricket here,” said Sanyal.“When I came here, and I saw people were playing, then I also started playing.”

There has been growth on the junior side of the game too, which consists of players 18-and-under. Tapankumar Bhatt, who is the Director Junior Cricket Saskatoon, said there usually had been around five to 10 junior aged players in the game. That changed last year when Cricket Saskatoon attracted 55 junior players including both boys and girls.

“If I say Saskatoon is an immigrant hub, a lot of immigrants are coming from world wide,” said Bhatt. “This game is very popular in Southeast Asia, England, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, Caribbeans and America.

“Everywhere it is now growing popular, so people coming from other parts of the world they are missing this sport. Because we are conducting it now, the kids get a platform. Their parents are engaged.

“Their friends back at home used to play. Because we started this year, now, they get this sport.”

A bowler delivers a throw at a junior tournament.

Sanyal said the sport in Saskatoon needs new cricket specific facilities to handle the growth the sport is seeing.

“I just need to do all I can to take care of my kids,” said Sanyal. “Hopefully, the city will give them a good place to grow up, and they can go and play for Cricket Canada and Canada national team.”

Cricket does have a lengthy history in Saskatoon and Saskatchewan. When Canada became a country in 1867, cricket was declared the country’s first official sport. It was popular among early settlers in Saskatchewan, but the popularity faded as sports like hockey and baseball became more widely played.

Cricket still had a presence in Saskatoon with games regularly being played at Kinsmen Park until the 1980s, when the sport’s pitch was moved to the Saskatoon Forestry Farm. In the early 2010s, cricket began to grow again and two pitches were added in Pierre Radisson Park. The first pitch at that location opened in 2016 and a second pitch was added in 2021.

“Saskatchewan has a very old history about cricket,” said Sanyal. “We have three cricket grounds in Forestry Farm land and two of them on Pierre Radisson Park.

“Forestry Farm is now not playable. Pierre Radisson Park is very close to the neighbourhood, and we can’t even play proper cricket there.”

For indoor training in the winter months, Cricket Saskatoon has utilized both the Saskatoon Field House and the Indoor Training Centre at the Gordie Howe Sports Complex. Sanyal said the staffs at both places have been great, but the coaches with Cricket Saskatoon have to modify or plan drills in both places. When both places were built, they weren’t originally planned to be used by cricket sports groups.

At the Indoor Training Centre, cricket players often practice the skills of their sport inside the batting cages. Sanyal said working in the batting cages is tough for the bowler (the player who pitches the ball in cricket), because the bowler usually needs a run up of 10 or 15 metres before throwing the ball.

With all that noted, two big successes Cricket Saskatoon had at the Indoor Training Centre was being able to hold the Indoor Junior Cricket Tournament on December 23, 2023 and the Envision Sports Club Tape Ball Cricket Tournament 2023 on December 30, 2023 at that facility.

A hitter makes a run to score a point at a junior tournament.

Bhatt was pleased the junior tournament went well. He said that event was a success because they had enough junior players to hold it, and they were able to successfully run junior games on the field turf at the Indoor Training Centre.

“That was amazing, because we never thought of that big successes,” said Bhatt. “We invited MLAs, MPs, and the councillors.

“The parents were here, so a lot of parents had never been in this facility before. They were amazed. They came from another part of the world.

“This kind of a bigger facility where you have indoor cricket you can play. It is a big ground, when you merge both north and south (fields). It was a very successful tournament, and we got a lot of visibility.”

Outdoors, Cricket Saskatoon hosted a Mini World Cup on May 6, 2023 at Pierre Radisson Park. Teams represented six community groups including Canada, Bangladeshi Community Association of Saskatchewan, India-Canada Cultural Association, Pakistan-Canada Culture Association, Sri Lanka Association of Saskatoon and South Africa. A total of 1,000 people came out to enjoy that one day event.

“It is a really fun game for like everyone that comes,” said Sanyal. “All our Saskatoon residents they are having fun, and now kids are also coming.”

Bhatt said he started playing cricket again after a number of years not playing the sport due to the fact his children are playing and he is involved as the director for the junior level of Cricket Saskatoon. The 41-year-old is looking forward to making good special memories when his team plays the junior side his children play on this coming season.

“We left cricket like 10 years back, 15 years back,” said Bhatt. “Now, we are starting it again, because our kids are playing.

“Our kids will face us in the game that is the biggest thing.”

Still, Sanyal is worried about turning players away and capping registrations, because of the lack of facilities for the sport in Saskatoon. He is concerned that players who are turned away or decide to leave the sport won’t come back if they elect to pursue other sports or activities. Sanyal believes cricket can be a great sport for the city.

A young player drives the ball at during a junior tournament.

“It is growing,” said Sanyal. “The main problem is we are having to choose with our facilities.

“We don’t have enough good ground for cricket.One of the greatest cricket players name is Sachin Tendulkar. He is from India, Mumbai.

“If anyone in cricket knows about cricket, they know about Sachin Tenduklar. I just want to make sure that one day we will produce that type of player, (and) everyone knows Saskatoon, where Saskatoon is all over the world.”

For more information about Cricket Saskatoon, feel free to check out their website at www.cricketsaskatoon.com. Check out the video below for an overview of the sport of cricket.