Saad Zafar isn’t sugarcoating anything when it comes to Canada’s men’s cricket team: It’s highly unlikely that they’ll be on the field in Los Angeles at the 2028 Olympics.
But Team Canada’s captain is confident the exposure and inclusion of cricket on the Summer Games program will lead to great things for his sport. And though the Canadian men are a long shot for the Olympics, the squad will be competing next summer in the second-biggest international tournament cricket has to offer.
Sportsnet caught up with Zafar to talk about the team’s World Cup qualification, how he’s carved out a career in the game, the time he bowled to a world record, and what it was like moving from a cricket-crazed country to Toronto, which he now calls home.
This conversation is the last in a series with top Canadian athletes involved in the six sports added to the schedule for LA 2028. Previous installments feature flag football player, Sara Parker; Larissa Franklin, a veteran of Canada’s national softball team; Canadian Texas Rangers prospect Mitch Bratt; identical twins and national junior squash champions, Ocean and Spring Ma; and lacrosse standout, Erica Evans.
SPORTSNET: With six teams competing on each of the men’s and women’s sides in 2028, what does that mean for Canada’s chances to play in the Olympics?
ZAFAR: Most likely Canada would not be there. But it’s still good news for us. It will increase the interest of different sports fans across North America. It will give exposure to cricket, because there’s a lot of sports fan communities across Canada, but most of them don’t know about cricket, and they don’t even know that we have a national team. Overall, it’s good for the game and it’s good for Canadian cricket as well.
A lot can happen in five years. But where does Canada stand on the international stage currently as far as competitiveness?
Right now we are ranked 19th in the world, so we are in the top 20. But more exciting news for us is that we just qualified for the T20 World Cup that’s happening next year. That is something that we are really celebrating and cherishing, and we’re looking forward to the next few months. The World Cup will be in June 2024, and in the T20 format this is the first time Canada has ever qualified. I think that will be sort of like a stepping stone towards improving and bringing our rankings up on the world stage.
How big was that win at the World Cup qualifier [in September] for your team?
The last World Cup we played was in 2011, which is 12 years ago. So it’s been a long time since we have been part of any World Cup. And especially the current national team players, pretty much all of us have never played in the World Cup. So it was a dream for us to play and represent Canada in the World Cup because that’s the biggest tournament that happens within cricket right now. The World Cup is like the Olympics for us.
What was the moment like on the field after your team qualified?
It was very emotional. We were jumping up in the air, hugging each other, and some of us did also have tears in our eyes. Most of us lost our voices — we were shouting at the top of our lungs. It’s a moment that we will cherish for a very long time.
And it must have been extra special for you as the captain of the team.
It’s a privilege to be in that role. I’m just happy representing Canada, so having a position leading the team, I try my best to do justice to my position and the role that they’ve given me.
You grew up in Pakistan, where cricket is huge, and then you moved to Toronto. What was that like for you, and for your cricket career?
Cricket is like another religion in Pakistan. It’s not just a sport, because everybody follows it so passionately and everybody plays the game so passionately that it seems like it’s a religion. My early days when I was growing up in Pakistan, because everybody plays cricket, everybody talks about cricket, that’s how I started playing on the streets with a bunch of school friends.
When I moved to Toronto in 2004 [at the age of 17], I was looking for people here to play cricket with. And luckily I found a few. I joined the Overseas Cricket Club. I played on the under-19 team, and then I also started playingwith the senior team in the premier division, which was the highest division at that time when I started.
Coming from Pakistan, we know the top cricket-playing countries in the world. It was actually a bit surprising to me to see there is cricket here [in Canada], because initially I was expecting there would be no cricket. And then I saw that there’s club cricket and people play on the weekends. So that came as a pleasant surprise to me, that I don’t have to say “bye bye” to cricket forever.
How did your career with the national team start?
Initially when I started playing here, I never thought that I’d be good enough to get to the national level and play for Canada. I was just playing out of passion. And then because I was playing in the most competitive league, one day I got selected and I got called for Canada. I was in university when I made it for the first time, in 2008. It was a really exciting moment for me. And then at that time, the bell rang for me that maybe I’m good enough to represent Canada and maybe in the future I’ll get more chances to play for Canada.
As an all-rounder, can you explain what your role is?
In cricket, mostly there are specialized people. Some people specialize in batting, which is like hitting if I were to compare it to baseball. And then there’s specific bowlers, which are like pitchers in baseball language. All-rounders are good in both… So I do both — I pitch and also bat. And in bowling there’s different variations. There are fast bowlers who aim to bowl quick, and then there’s spin bowlers who bowl slow, and they try to turn the ball. I’m a spinner.
How did you achieve your world record?
In a T20 format, I bowled four overs and I did not concede any runs. Four overs is the full quota of what a bowler can bowl. So I bowled out the full quota and I did not concede any runs, which is a world record. Nobody had ever done it before. I was playing for Canada in an international game against Panama. So that is an international record.
Did you get a plaque or anything?
Oh, no, I wish [laughs], but nobody gave me anything. It’s just the recognition and applause and whatnot. But I’m still happy that it’s in the record books. I’m happy that I was able to do that for myself and for my country.
You’ve been playing for Canada consistently since 2015, and before that you were on-and-off with the team. What did you do to cement your status with the national team?
I would say when I got picked for the first time [in 2008], I wasn’t too ready and I didn’t really understand the difference between playing at the top level versus club cricket. When I was dropped a few times, it made me understand what areas of my game I needed to improve on. So until 2015, I worked on my shortcomings and I knew that next time I got an opportunity, I would keep it and would not let it go.
I got that opportunity in 2015, and I knew that I was ready for this level. And my comeback year in 2015, for our T20 qualifiers in Scotland, overall Canada didn’t do well in that tournament. But my individual performances were really good and I was the most economical bowler for Canada in that tournament. And then from there on the rest is history. I’ve always been either one of the most economical bowlers or the most wicket-taking bowler for Canada after that.
How do you figure Canada will do at the World Cup next year?
We’ll get to play against some of the top-ranked countries of the world. We don’t expect to go in and win the World Cup, but it’s going to be a great experience for us. We don’t get to play against the top 10 teams in the world because we are put in different tier systems. For us to get to play some of the top-ranked teams, it’s really exciting and something that we’re really looking forward to. It will also give us exposure, and once you play against some of the top teams in the world, it’s an experience for you to learn from. We’re looking to gain valuable experiences and then take back a lot of learnings from that World Cup and build on it from there. Basically, I think it will be a stepping stone for us to get better.
And then, boom, qualify for the Olympics.
For sure. That’ll be next.
