Indian-origin Shreyas Movva represents Canada in T20 WC:Featured Karnataka at U-23 level; professionally, a software engineer in ‘Land of Maple’

Where ‘Ice Hockey’ is the most popular sport and snow blankets the ground for six months of the year, an Indian-origin player is nurturing his cricket dreams. This is the story of Shreyas Movva, who is Canada’s reliable wicketkeeper-batsman and is making waves in the T20 World Cup. Featured Karnataka at U-23 level Born in Karnataka, Shreyas’s dream was to play for the Karnataka state team. He played Under-23 cricket in 2015, where he played alongside players like Abhinav Manohar and Praveen Dubey, who later became IPL stars. However, unable to secure a place in Karnataka’s main team, Shreyas decided to fulfill his mother’s dream. In 2016, he went to Canada for studies and enrolled in Montreal’s Concordia University. Made International cricket debut in 2021 for Canada
Playing cricket in Quebec province of Canada is no less than a struggle. Shreyas explains, ‘The summer season there only lasts from May to September-October. After that, due to severe cold and snowfall, we have to practice in indoor nets, where it’s difficult to create match-like conditions. There are no international standard turf wickets there. Turf wickets are still needed, as most matches are played on matting wickets.’ Despite these obstacles, in 2021, Shreyas became the first player from Quebec to play international cricket since 2009. The 32-year-old Shreyas is also a software engineer. Indian-origin software engineer plays during day and works at night
He says, ‘When I was out of the team, my job kept me from breaking down mentally. My company allows me to play and I often make up for it by working at night. Cricket is my passion and software engineering is my profession; I want to continue both.’ Having played 24 ODIs and 26 T20s for Canada, Shreyas is proving himself in the World Cup. Now his team’s last match is against Afghanistan. On Chennai’s spin pitches, Shreyas has one final chance to show his ‘class’. For him, this World Cup is not just a tournament, but a victory of determination that started from Karnataka and cutting through the snow of Quebec, is now shining on the global stage.