(April 13, 2026) When the votes were counted at Cricket Canada’s Special General Meeting last week, the verdict left little room for debate. Punjab-born Arvinder Singh Khosa of Surrey, British Columbia, has been elected the new President of Cricket Canada, with support from eight of the ten provincial associations. Cricket Canada serves as the sport’s official governing body in the country, operating as a not-for-profit organisation with recognition from the International Cricket Council, the Government of Canada and the Canadian Olympic Committee.
Khosa assumes the presidency with immediate effect, stepping into an office that carries responsibility for cricket across a country of nearly 40 million people. Cricket Canada wasted little time in signalling the tone of the new era, describing its incoming president in its official notification as “a highly respected cricket administrator and community leader from Surrey, British Columbia, with a long-standing involvement in the game.” The organisation has said that under his stewardship, the focus will be on strengthening governance, deepening stakeholder engagement, and laying foundations sturdy enough to carry the sport forward for the long term.
In his first remarks after the announcement, Khosa struck a purposeful tone. “This is an important moment for cricket in Canada,” he said. “We are focused on strengthening the organisation and working with our members and partners to support the game across the country, with an emphasis on integrity, accountability, and continued growth.”
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The making of an administrator
Khosa’s journey into cricket began in his school ground in India. A product of Dal Chand Senior Secondary School in Ferozepur Cantonment, Punjab, he was known among peers and teachers by the name “Afridi” due to his uninhibited, attacking style of batting that drew comparisons to the Pakistani all-rounder of legendary repute.
He went on to pursue higher education at Guru Nanak College in Ferozepur Cantonment. His passion for cricket was shaped early by his late father, Nishan Singh Khosa, and his uncle Sukhwant Singh Khosa. These two figures’ influence on him extended well beyond the cricket field.
After making Canada his home, the entrepreneur settled in Surrey, British Columbia, a city that, in many ways, mirrors the diversity and energy of the South Asian immigrant experience in Canada. Surrey’s streets carry the sound of multiple languages; its community halls host cultural events that draw from Punjab as easily as from the Pacific. For someone carrying both a love of cricket and a commitment to community, it was fertile ground.
Building a career in Canadian Cricket
In Canada, Khosa channelled his energy into cricket administration with the same intensity he once brought to batting. He rose to become President of Cricket BC, the provincial association for British Columbia, where he supported the development and promotion of the sport at both the grassroots and organisational levels. That role gave him firsthand experience of the challenges and opportunities unique to growing cricket in a country where the sport competes for attention against ice hockey, basketball, and a dozen other pursuits.
His work at Cricket BC placed him at the intersection of the organisational demands of a formal sporting body and the community dynamics of a sport that, in Canada, is deeply tied to the lives of immigrant families from the Caribbean, South Asia, and beyond. Managing that intersection requires a specific kind of leadership that speaks the language of governance as fluently as it speaks the language of community.
It is that dual fluency, those who know Arvinder Singh Khosa suggest, that underpinned his journey from provincial administrator to national president.
Cricket, Canada, and the diaspora
Cricket arrived in Canada with the British in the eighteenth century, and for a time it was the country’s most popular sport. Prime Minister John A. Macdonald, Canada’s first, declared it the national sport. Ice hockey and other pursuits eventually overtook it through the early twentieth century, but the game never left. What changed, decades later, was who was playing it.
The large-scale arrival of immigrants from South Asia, the Caribbean, and other cricket-playing nations through the latter half of the twentieth century gave the sport a second life in Canada. Today, cricket is the fastest-growing sport in the country, with over 40,000 registered cricketers spread across provinces and communities nationwide. In cities like Surrey, Toronto, Brampton, and Winnipeg, cricket grounds on weekends fill with players whose connection to the sport runs as deep as their roots.
Cricket Canada, established in 1892 and an associate member of the International Cricket Council since 1968, administers the national men’s and women’s teams, youth squads at various age levels, and a wide network of development programmes and community leagues. Canada may not play Test cricket, but it competes in One Day Internationals and first-class fixtures, and holds a distinction that even the sport’s oldest nations cannot claim. The fixture between Canada and the United States, first played in 1844, is the oldest international cricket match ever recorded, predating the celebrated England–Australia Tests by more than three decades.
The organisation Khosa now leads is, in many ways, the administrative expression of everything that diaspora energy has built on Canadian soil over generations. The Canada cricket team today is, in many ways, a portrait of the country’s immigrant story. Of all the teams that competed in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026, Canada boasted the highest number of Indian-origin players at 11, with six of them, including captain Dilpreet Singh Bajwa, born in India itself.
Canada’s Cricket Team
A new team, a clear direction
Joining Khosa in the new leadership is Secretary Paramjit Shahi, a community leader from Winnipeg, Manitoba, who has been actively involved in cricket development with a particular focus on infrastructure and youth programming. Together, they represent a leadership that spans the country’s geography and draws from its community roots.
Khosa has been unambiguous about what he expects of himself in the role. He has spoken of dedicating himself completely to the growth and development of cricket in Canada, and of building what he describes as a bright future for the sport. Cricket Canada, for its part, has framed the transition as one focused on steady, principled progress, noting that cricket in Canada “continues to evolve, with steady participation growth, ongoing investment in the national program, and increasing interest in the development of Canadian talent.”
“We are focused on strengthening the organisation and working with our members and partners to support the game across the country,” Khosa said, “with an emphasis on integrity, accountability, and continued growth.”
Back home, Ferozepur celebrates
Across the ocean, Ferozepur entered into a celebratory mood as soon as the announcement was made. Arvinder Singh Khosa’s former physical education teacher, Gurnam Singh Sidhu Gama, a state and national awardee, was among the first to share the news of his former student’s election with the local media. Congratulations poured in from political figures, cultural personalities, and community leaders who saw in Khosa’s election a moment of collective pride, acknowledging the achievement as a distinction not just for one man, but for the broader Punjabi community in India and across the world.
While his national awardee teacher, who once watched a young “Afridi” tear into bowling attacks on the grounds of Ferozepur Cantonment, put it proudly mentioning that Arvinder Singh Khosa has been a student he had known since school and it makes him proud to see him reach the highest office in Canadian cricket.
However for Khosa himself, the work begins now, and by the weight of the mandate he carries, it begins in earnest.
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