KARACHI: Former Pakistan all-rounder and T20 skipper Shahid Afridi launched a cricket club in his name in Toronto, Canada this week which will compete in the local Toronto & District League starting from May 19. The league matches will be played on cricket grounds across the GTA and King City. “During my meetings with Mayor John Tory and Premier Kathleen Wynne on my last visit to Canada, they discussed the need to support the development of cricket in Canada and I promised to do something,” said Afridi. “It’s important to promote sports among the youth. I am very happy to announce that we have launched Shahid Afridi Cricket Club to compete in TDCA and have signed former Canadian cricket team captain Rizwan Cheema as captain and mentor, and Ameem Haq as the general manager,” he added. Cheema, ex-captain of Canada’s national team, is a level-2 certified coach and has played 41 international matches including the ICC World Cup. Afridi further said: “Cheema is an explosive batsman known for his hard-hitting batting and medium pace bowling, he is my kind of player and the pride of modern Canadian cricket.” Over 100 teams will be competing for championship in different categories and conferences. GTA has an estimated 20,000 registered cricketers competing in various leagues, of which the TDCA is the biggest cricket league in Canada and North America. Shahid Afridi Cricket Club offered contracts to the following cricketers namely Rizwan Cheema, Satsimranjit Dhindsa, Cecil Pervez, Ammar Khalid, Asad Zaidi, Maahil Arshad, Simon Pervez, Muzammil Ali, Ali Irfan, Mudassir Ali, Yax Patel. Afridi himself also currently in talks to play the Global T20 Canada League which is slated to be played later this year in June. Published in Daily Times, May 9th 2018.