Jaskaran Singh's journey comes full circle in 'ironic' World Cup debut in India

As a child growing up in Punjab's Mohali, Jaskaran Singh would often go up to the rooftop alone, hold his cricket bat and imagine playing in the World Cup for India.

In 2026, after 17 years in professional cricket, his dream came true, but with a strange twist of fate. He appeared in the Twenty20 World Cup in the country of his birth, but wearing a Canadian jersey.

"How ironic is that?" Jaskaran, a medium pacer who represented India A and played for Punjab and Chandigarh in Indian domestic cricket, told Reuters.

Canada ended their campaign without a win, despite Jaskaran's three-wicket haul against Afghanistan in their last group game. But for Jaskaran, the experience was surreal on a personal level.

"At some point... there was a thought that okay, you worked hard, but your dream of playing and winning the World Cup for India is shattered," he said.

"I went to Canada, not knowing what would happen. And then I'm given an opportunity of playing in a World Cup, and that World Cup happens to be in India, my home country... I could not ever imagine this in my wildest dreams."

Moving to Canada was a "compromise with destiny", said the 36-year-old, who had initially remained in India to continue his cricketing career despite his family being Canadian permanent residents.

He took six wickets for Deccan Chargers in the 2010 edition of the Indian Premier League, but dealt with a number of injuries through the next few years, making intermittent appearances in domestic tournaments before his eventual move to Canada.

"I went there for my child's citizenship, to be honest," he said.

CRICKET IN CANADA

To Jaskaran, who was used to going out in shorts even in the coldest months, Canadian winters came as a shock.

"Here, after October and November, if you have to step out of the house, you must have warm clothes, snow shoes. It was so difficult to adjust at first," he said.

He took up a coaching role at an academy in Toronto and regularly played club cricket, in a sporting environment that was very different from what he grew up with.

"Because the summer is so short, they have to pack a lot of cricket in the weekends. They start from seven in the morning and finish at nine in the evening," he said.

"Wet ground, wet shoes, you slip a lot. The sight screens aren't good, the quality of the ball varies from match to match, between tournaments."

But one thing Canadian cricket did not lack was competitiveness, with hundreds of immigrants like Jaskaran trying to make it in a sport that, to them, represented a connection with their homelands.

"If you work hard, you can make your way to the top," Jaskaran said.

The country's national cricket body, Cricket Canada, started monitoring him as a potential national team player early on, with Pubudu Dassanayake, Canada's coach at the time who later became the U.S. head coach, working closely with him.

"He'd ask, how long I had left to fulfil my residency obligations before I would be eligible to play for Canada," Jaskaran recalled.

On his Canada debut against Bermuda in April 2025, he took three wickets in a comfortable victory. Jaskaran credited his IPL experience for how easily he fit into his new national side.

"You mentally become confident that it's nothing new," he said.

Despite the disappointing campaign at the T20 World Cup, Jaskaran said Canada are on track to become regulars at both 20-over and 50-over World Cups.

But one thing he can no longer predict is where his own journey in the sport will take him next.

"I used to make a lot of plans... but destiny teaches you, it's not in your control. Wherever life takes me, I'm on a boat without a radar. I'm just going to enjoy the ride, whatever destiny throws at me," he said.

(Reporting by Chiranjit Ojha in Bengaluru Editing by Christian Radnedge)