Singapore name final Men's side for World Cup
The 12-man squad was announced following by Singapore Indoor Cricket following the final of their intra-squad series last week.
Singapore have named their final 12-man squad to travel to Colombo for the World Cup next month, after an announcement late last week by Singapore Indoor Cricket.
The team selecton follows the final of the intra-squad series which was held last week and an initial 30-man probables squad which was named last month.
Their experienced campaigner Tameem Latheef will captain as well as coach the side for the tournament, taking over from Abhinav Chintamani who oversaw the team at the England-Asia Cup last year, which was also held in Colombo.
Five other players from the side who competed in that tournament are also in the World Cup squad - Karl Noronha, Ankit Maheshwari, Sanjeewa Duminda, Sagar Punjal, and Niraj Vasani.
Padmaka Piyanga, Rajagopalan Raghul and Shahaan Viswanathan will make their debuts, whilst Srikanth Ramaswamy and Gaurav Singh Parihar come back into the team. Making way for them are Ali Asad (reserve), Saravanan Saminathan, Vijay Babu, Vasant Kumar and Saravanan Subbiah.
Skipper Latheef, who will be playing his ninth international series at Open Men’s level and third Opens World Cup, is currently capped *49 times, and will
become the first Singapore indoor cricketer to reach the 50 test milestone.
It has been a tough last few years for the island nation since losing their only indoor court facility in 2020 - having to contend with the use of futsal turf and outdoor courts for matches and training - as well as the loss of key players. They failed to win a match at the 2022 World Cup in Melbourne, and won just one match apiece at each of the 2023 NZ-Asia Cup and 2024 England-Asia Cup.
Their Over-35 Masters team fared much better at the Masters World Series last year, also in Colombo, where they won four matches during round-robin play, and lost to the UAE in a closely-fought final for the Plate. Seven players - Latheef, Alwis, Noronha, Maheshwari, Parihar, Punjal, and Ramaswamy, return to Colombo from that side.
The nation however remains without an indoor court facility and the team are unlikely to go into the tournament with the use of one, although this is currently in development in preparations for an Asia Cup Masters tournament. This remains a major obstacle to their indoor development and will require some adjustment once they touch down in Colombo.
The Open Women’s side is expected to be named at the end of August.
Singapore are the sixth country to name a Men’s side for the tournament after New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, and England, and the United Arab Emirates. Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka A, India and the USA are the nations which are yet to finalise their Men’s squads.
The 2025 Indoor Cricket World Cup will take place from Colombo, Sri Lanka from 27 September to 4 October.
Singapore Open Men’s Squad: 2025 World Cup
Tameem Latheef (C), Ankit Maheshwari, Sanjeewa Alwis, Karl Noronha, Niraj Vasani, Padmaka Piyanga, Rajagopalan Raghul Sagar Punjal, Shahaan Viswanathan, Srikanth Ramaswamy, Vipul Sharma, Gaurav Singh Parihar.
Reserves: Ali Asad, Arjun Kumar.
*Based on Spawtz Management records since 2009
Image: Getty Images for Cricket Australia
Graphic: Shewon Fonseka
