Corey Anderson and Nitish Kumar are set to join an exclusive list of players who have player for two different countries at a Cricket World Cup or T20 World Cup after being named in the USA 15-man squad for the tournament. 

Photo credit: Peter Della Penna

By Peter Della Penna (Twitter/X @PeterDellaPenna)
 
Star fast bowler Ali Khan, who missed the five-match T20I series against Canada while recovering from injury, and right-handed batter Shayan Jahangir have been brought back into USA’s 15-man squad for the 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup and their pre-World Cup three-match series against Bangladesh which begins May 21 in Texas. 
 
Jahangir, who starred for USA at the 2023 ICC World Cup Qualifier in Zimbabwe and also opened the batting for the 2023 MLC Champion MI New York franchise, was left out of the squad that defeated Canada 4-0 in April. However, he was brought back in along with the now fully fit Khan. To make room for Khan and Jahangir, USA selectors have left out offspinner Usman Rafiq and left-handed batter Gajanand Singh. 
 
Gajanand, 36, has the second-most Player of the Match awards for USA in the ODI era that began in 2019 behind only Steven Taylor. Among those awards collected by Gajanand is one for his performance against Ireland in December 2021 when he scored 65 off 42 balls, helping USA recover from a position of 16 for 4 to post a total of 188 for 6 in an eventual 26-run win in Lauderhill. 
 
More recently in the series against Canada in April, Gajanand was only selected in the starting XI for two matches. He played in the opening six-wicket win, entering at No. 6 and facing one ball to score 1 not out. He was then rested until returning for the fifth and final T20I in the series, when he edged behind for a first-ball duck. 
 
Rafiq, 35, only played in the final match of the series against Canada. He bowled two overs, conceding 24 runs. In two ODIs and one T20I for USA, he has never taken a wicket. 
 
Among some of the relative newcomers in the USA squad who made their USA T20I debuts against Canada, Corey Anderson and Nitish Kumar are both in line to achieve a unique feat of having played for two different countries at different World Cups. Kumar played as a 16-year-old at the 2011 ICC World Cup in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. The former Canada captain, who will turn 30 just a week before the start of the T20 World Cup when USA takes on Canada, made his debut for USA against his former country in the fifth T20I in April, walking away with Player of the Match honors after scoring 64 in a USA win. Nitish migrated to Texas in 2021 after taking up a full-time contract offer via Major League Cricket. 
 
Anderson, 33, was one of New Zealand’s leading players on their march to the final of the 2015 World Cup on home soil in Australia and New Zealand. He scored a pivotal 58 off 57 balls in his country’s thrilling chase against South Africa in the tournament semi-final in Auckland sharing a 103-run fifth-wicket partnership with eventual Player of the Match Grant Elliott. Anderson was also a part of New Zealand’s 2014 T20 World Cup squad in Bangladesh. Anderson migrated to Texas in early 2020 just prior to Covid to join his wife, an American citizen, in her native home state. 
 
Monank Patel, who took over as captain for USA in November 2021, will continue leading the side into the T20 World Cup while Aaron Jones remains vice-captain.
 
USA will play three T20Is against Bangladesh on May 21, 23 and 25 at Prairie View Cricket Complex located an hour northwest of Houston in their final preparation for the T20 World Cup. USA’s T20 World Cup campaign begins on opening night June 1 in Grand Prairie, Texas against Canada before they continue on in Group A action against Pakistan in Texas, India in New York and wrap up against Ireland in Florida on June 14. 
 
USA 15-man squad for 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup: Monank Patel (captain/wk), Aaron Jones (vice-captain), Corey Anderson, Andries Gous, Shayan Jahangir, Nosthush Kenjige, Ali Khan, Nitish Kumar, Milind Kumar, Saurabh Netravalkar, Nisarg Patel, Harmeet Singh, Jessy Singh, Steven Taylor, Shadley van Schalkwyk.