Cricket Canada has announced  the appointment of Nitish Kumar as its new  captain of the senior men’s national team.

The 22-year-old Kumar who is a top order batsman and an off-break bowler has represented Canada in 16 ODIs and 6 T20Is. He made his ODI debut against Afghanistan at Sharjah in February, 2010 and his T20I debut against Netherlands at Dubai in March, 2012.

He has also played in 13 first-class matches since his debut against Kenya at the Maple Leaf cricket ground King City, in August, 2009, and is the youngest player ever to debut for Canada at both first-class  and ODI.

Kumar first task as captain will be the KA Auty Cup Series, three 50-over matches which will be played against the USA on October 13, 14 and 16, at Woodley Park in Los Angeles, USA.

The KA Auty Cup is an international cricket series between the USA and Canada, and was last played in 2013, at the Maple Leaf cricket ground in King City, where Canada  retained the trophy after securing first-innings points in a drawn two-day encounter.

Kumar, who was currently playing for Loughborough Marylebone Cricket Club University in England said:” I am really excited to captain the Canadian National Team. We have a young team and it might take some time to reach our ultimate goal of getting Canada back to where it was. I think we are heading  in the right direction.”

Cricket Canada General  Manager, Ingleton Liburd, said ” I am pleased with the appointment of Nitish as captain. Having  worked  with him in the ICC U-19 CWC, I believe that he has what  it takes to help in the rebuilding of our national team.”