Teenage World Cup star Samra swaps snowy Canada for Mumbai heat to chase IPL dream

[p]The ‌19-year-old became the youngest centurion in a T20 World ‌Cup match last week when he made a scorching 110 off ‌65 balls, a knock that included 11 fours and ‌six sixes, during his team's eight-wicket defeat to [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/new-zealand/G6PWlrQB/"]New Zealand[/a].[/p][p]While his World Cup adventure ended after [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/canada/UoTcEMdb/"]Canada[/a]'s exit, Samra is eager to get ‌used to Indian conditions and has shifted base ⁠to Mumbai to train ‌under India international Yashasvi Jaiswal's childhood coach Jwala Singh.[/p][p][b]"I want to practise ​on turf wickets, especially on Mumbai wickets as it's not easy to bat on them. If I ​can bat well here, I can bat on any wickets," Samra told reporters, noting that he did not have similar ⁠opportunities back home.[/b][/p][p][b]"It's minus ​20 degrees Celsius and it snows for like six months there. It's tough playing indoors all the time."[/b][/p][embed guid="92f802e0-8ef2-48ae-8919-58f7d63abaaf" url="https://x.com/T20WorldCup/status/2023657190981279977" social-type="twitter" /][p]Samra, born in Ontario and named after India great and fellow left-hander Yuvraj Singh, is ‌eager to impress scouts from the 10 teams in cricket's most lucrative franchise league and break new ground.[/p][p][b]"I want to be in the IPL as its first Canadian and I want to play as much franchise cricket as I can around the world," Samra said.[/b][/p][p]While there is no shortage of elite T20 leagues around the world, players from the associate members of global governing body the International Cricket Council often ‌struggle to secure deals.[/p][p]The limited opportunities are not restricted to ​franchise cricket, with international matches against full members few ‌and far between, affecting players' chances to compete.[/p][p][b]"It's hard to compete against nations like New Zealand and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/south-africa/tUhlKzIm/"]South Africa[/a] because we play these teams once every two to four years," Samra said.[/b][/p][p][b]"If we play teams like these in ⁠smaller series throughout the year, ⁠I feel we can ‌become a better team."[/b][/p]