An all-Malayali cricket team to play second division league in Ottawa

When the grounds in Canada emerge from under sheets of snow and the second division cricket league gets underway in the capital city of Ottawa in May, one team is likely to evoke considerable interest. Ottawa Tuskers will be the lone all-Malayali outfit among the 13 teams to participate in the league. The registration of the team as an associate member of the Ottawa Valley Cricket Council, which organises the league, was completed earlier this month. “While there are Malayalis playing in many teams, this is perhaps the only one to be made up of Malayalis alone. Some community members who were playing even for first division teams opted for transfer to our team out of their excitement of playing alongside Malayalis,” said Nandakumar G, a core group member behind the formation of Ottawa Tuskers. The team has a logo made up of maple leaf and elephant, two symbols associated Canada and Kerala respectively. It all started with a group of Malayali expatriates united by the love for cricket coming together to play taped ball cricket in two successive summers starting from 2018. This triggered a thought of forming a cricket club to play the game professionally. “The team is now restricted to indoor training sessions of two hours each for three days a week since the winter is yet to retreat. Owing to the Covid-19 restrictions, the team of 20 members is split into two batches and they practice alternatively. We have been having friendly matches with other teams as part of practice till the onset of winter,” said Pratap Nanoo, president of Ottawa Tuskers Sports Club Inc, a not for profit organisations under which the team is registered. The league runs into 30 matches and every team has been assigned a home ground where practice sessions will resume once the winter retrieves. “We plan to organise regular summer camps for children from the Malayali community and encourage other sports as well in due course sports. The idea is to engender a sense of camaraderie and spirit of community among the Malayalis settled here,” said Jobin Valappil operations director of Ottawa Tuskers Sports Inc. Rakesh Kappoor is the treasurer.