For the love of cricket – Nitish Kumar’s journey from Canada to USA

He played a World Cup match at just 16, making him one of the youngest to do so. At 30, he became the latest to appear in a T20 World Cup for two countries on June 1. He’s Nitish Kumar. Canada earlier. USA now. And he has had quite a journey, partly necessitated by the pandemic.

“There was Covid-19, [and] Toronto had one of the longest lockdowns in the world. There was nothing going on in terms of cricket,” Nitish told ESPNcricinfo ahead of the T20 World Cup. “And to be fair, I’ve always dreamt about playing cricket. And I’m someone that’s 100% in; I’m not going to do 50-50.”

So he shifted to the USA. It was October 2020. He was 26. And he just wanted to play cricket.

“I don’t want to give up playing cricket. I don’t want to wait.”

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Born in Canada to parents of Indian origin in Scarborough, Ontario, he went to school and university in England. He played cricket there. While studying at Loughborough, he even hit a quick 141 in a three-day fixture against Nottinghamshire back in 2017.

His father played cricket at the Toronto Cricket, Skating and Curling Club – remember, the venue for the Sahara Cup ODIs between India and Pakistan in the second half of the 1990s? This was well before Nitish went to the UK, of course, he was still just a kid. But he liked what he saw. When just a four-year-old in 1998, he was put in the Toronto Cricket Academy.

And, not long after, he picked up the nickname “Tendulkar”, because he copied the batter’s mannerisms and style.

“I don’t know who [gave me the nickname]. I can’t recall watching too much cricket when young. But I used to watch videos. Sachin’s my favourite player, and I used to copy his style – even his pads and helmet.”

“Exposure to good competition is what we look for. There are times in Associate cricket when you have nothing; you don’t have any cricket – or sometimes no training – because there’s not enough funding”Nitish Kumar

Canada. UK. Later USA. But the family never went too far from their Indian roots. Nitish recalls his mother fasting during Navratri and asking him to “not eat meat” for that period. She had “the little stuff instilled” in him.

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Nitish played first-class cricket for Canada in the ICC Continental Cup from 2009 to 2013 and then for Loughborough at the MCC university circuit from 2015 to 2017, while his debut in international cricket, for Canada, came in 2010 in an ODI against Afghanistan. He played 16 ODIs and 18 T20Is for Canada, the last of them in October 2019.

In his first international for USA, in April 2024, his opponents were Canada. Nitish cracked 64 in a Player-of-the-Match performance.

“It felt weird. I played against my home country,” Nitish said. “I played against the coach, Pubudu [Dassanayake], who picked me for Canada in 2009. He’s the one I played the [ODI] World Cup under in 2011. But, at the end of the day, there’s a job to do.”

During the intervening period, Nitish waited to meet the residency formalities required to qualify to play for USA. To stay in touch with the game, he went over to the Caribbean in February 2021 to play in the Super50 Cup, West Indies’ domestic List A tournament. Nitish had played in the Caribbean before, as part of the ICC Americas side as well as Canada, and had turned out for St Lucia Zouks in the CPL in 2016.

Representing Leeward Islands against Windward Islands in his first match in 2021, Nitish hit 112 at a strike rate of 105. The tougher test came against Trinidad and Tobago, who had the “switched on” and “fantastic” Sunil Narine in their ranks. But Nitish still finished the tournament with 262 runs, the most for his team.

Two years later, in July 2023, Nitish met Narine again. This time, they were part of the same side, Los Angeles Knight Riders (LAKR) at Major League Cricket (MLC), USA’s own T20 franchise league. Nitish also had Andre Russell for company there.

“Sunny is pretty quiet. He takes it easy on us in the nets (laughs). But I remember watching Russell bat in the nets, and also the way he was hitting the ball. I was thinking, ‘why am I even watching him because it’s putting me down – I don’t want to watch.”

Nitish didn’t get a chance to play for LAKR, who finished bottom of the table in the inaugural MLC, but just being around the scene, he realised how MLC had helped cricket in the USA turn a corner of sorts.

“It makes a huge difference. With the salaries, it gives guys an opportunity to play full time. Because otherwise, a lot of us, we would probably have to both work [to earn] and play.”

In February 2023, five months before MLC kicked off, New South Wales signed a deal with the MLC, which included helping the Washington franchise build their side. With that sort of deal as a start point, Nitish is hoping that MLC turns out to be for USA what the IPL is for India.

“You know how big franchises are like [when there is foreign interest in them]. With the competition and how the tournament is run, it’s something every year to look forward to. I think it’s super important that MLC keeps happening every year, [and help USA cricket] like IPL has helped Indian cricket.”

For the moment, though, Nitish is focused on the home World Cup. He will be playing one after 13 years.

“The ambition is obviously there, and we want to win as many games as possible. Exposure to good competition is what we look for. There are times in Associate cricket when you have nothing; you don’t have any cricket – or sometimes no training – because there’s not enough funding.”

Perhaps good results, like the opening-day win over Canada where Nitish didn’t have to do anything with ball or bat, could lead to that. And Nitish can do what he wants with the degree in sports science and business management he has, which is “not to use it” at all.