Canada's new captain Rizwan Cheema is confident of starting off his tenure by helping his side become one of the two sides to qualify from the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier 2012 scheduled to be held in UAE from 13-24 March.
The tournament will see 16 teams from across ICC's five regions competing for the remaining two places at the ICC World Twenty20 Sri Lanka 2012 which will be staged from 18 September to 7 October in Colombo, Hambantota and Pallekele.
All-rounder Cheema, who averages 30 with the bat, took over the mantle from Khurram Chohan who was injured during the team's recent training camp in Sri Lanka ahead of the tournament in Dubai but the big-hitting Cheema is confident that he can lead his side to one of its stated goals for 2012.
"We've had good preparation as a side having been away at the Caribbean Twenty20 tournament where we played a number of matches against good quality sides.
"We've also learnt a lot on our recent training camp in Sri Lanka while I've also been a part of the Bangladesh Premier League which has provided me with a good preparation. I feel things are very much coming together for the side.
"We have a strong bowling attack with both pace and spin which are important for games in the UAE, plus we've got good batsmen to put the runs on the board. Having watched plenty of the Pakistan v England series in the UAE, I've been looking at how the pitches behave and I think we've the full pack of what's needed on these surfaces," said Cheema.
Canada will take the field in the tournament without its former captain and one of its most experienced campaigners, Ashish Bagai. Cheema believes his side can make up for Bagai's absence.
"Ashish Bagai led our team to the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, he is not only an amazing player but a good person and there is no doubt that he is a very important player. But I have total confidence in Rustam Bhatti who will be keeping wicket this tournament," opined Cheema.
It will be a fresh start for Canada in many ways as the side also has a new coach in Michael Deighton who took over the job recently. Cheema believes his bowling attack is key for this event, with two of his most senior bowlers coming in the form of Henry Osinde and Harvir Baidwan, the latter claiming 13 wickets for the side in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011.
"Harvir and Henry are definitely two of our key bowlers, they are strong in the attack and I will be looking to both of them to lead from the front as they are now also both senior players in the side. That said, we have the likes of the talented and exciting Nitesh Kumar who experienced the ICC CWC 2011 last year and has also performed well in Twenty20s who is always keen to go that extra mile for the side," commented Cheema.
Canada is placed in Group A of the 16-team event alongside Afghanistan, Netherlands, Papua New Guinea, Hong Kong, Bermuda, Denmark and Nepal, it automatically qualified for this event since it is one of the top six Associate and Affiliate teams in the world. Cheema is confident that his side will measure up to the challenge.
"This side is a bit different to the side that featured at the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2011, but sides need to differ. Different players play different formats of the game better and I think the players at this tournament are going to do well and I have faith in their abilities.
"We've obviously played Afghanistan and Netherlands before, while Bermuda is a side we have faced in the ICC Americas region, however the other teams we've not played before in our group so we have been sure to research the opposition we will be facing. You can't take anyone lightly in this format of the game, we will play with our strengths, it's a fast format so we need to be on our toes."
