Cricket goes indoors at B.C. Place Stadium with Canada Super 60 tournament

Vancouver’s B.C. Place Stadium has hosted everything from Taylor Swift and monster trucks to the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2010 Olympics.

But cricket will take centre stage at the 42-year-old venue when the fledgling Canada Super 60 tournament kicks off Wednesday.

The tournament runs through Oct. 13 with six men’s and two women’s teams drawn from international and domestic talent.

Super 60 matches last about 90 minutes with each team batting for 10 overs (60 balls), making for all-action contests with batters swinging for the boundary in search of runs. In contrast, the Global T20 Canada tournament, which debuted in Brampton, Ont., in 2018, features the 20-over version of the game.

“I’m looking forward to it, as a pretty big stage for Canadians,” said 19-year-old Canadian international Yuvraj Samra, who is playing for the Brampton Blitz at the tournament. “It feel like it’s a really big thing to showcase our talent.”

Samra, who made his official international debut in March, has already turned heads with his bat for Canada.

In June, he put on a show as Canada made short work of the Bahamas, winning by 10 wickets in a rain-shorted game at the Americas Qualifier for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026. Samra scored 50 not out off just 15 balls with Canada finishing at 54 with no outs in just 4.3 overs.

Samra’s impressive knock erased the Canadian record for fastest T20 half-century set earlier in the week by Harsh Thaker, who scored 50 in 16 balls against the Cayman Islands.

He plans more of the same in the T10 game.

“You’ve got to see ball, hit ball,” he said.

Each day at the tournament will also feature a concert.

“It is still a game of cricket but what we can promise is that we have packaged it in a very North American style,” said Nishant Arora the tournament’s head of media and the former digital, media and communications manager for both the Indian cricket team and Board of Control for Cricket in India.

The roof at B.C. Place also adds a new dimension.

“This is probably the first high-level competitive cricket of this iteration to be played under the roof,” said Arora.

“As you know, cricket has a history of important matches being rained out. So this could possibly open so many avenues for the sport in the world.”

A drop-in hybrid cricket wicket is being used with B.C. Place’s normal artificial turf, with organizers having engaged Australia-based Gabba Sporting Products to handle the temporary wicket.

“In terms of dimensions, they’re all within Cricket Canada standards,” said Prague-based South African Mike Burrow, one of the tournament organizers.

The six men’s teams are the Brampton Blitz, Mississauga Masters, Montreal Royal Tigers, Vancouver Kings, Toronto Sixers and Whiterock Warriors. The women’s sides involved are the Vancouver Thunderbirds and Toronto Sixers

The international talent includes India’s Suresh Raina and Shikhar Dhawan, Pakistan’s Shoaib Malik, South Africa’s Quinton de Kock and England’s Alex Hales.

Other Canadian cricketers competing include Thaker, Dilpreet Bajwa, Ajayveer Hundal, Navneet Dhaliwal, Nicholas Kirton, Kaleem Sana and Shreyas Movva.

Cricket Canada is sanctioning the event, which is being aired on various networks in India, Pakistan, Australia, New Zealand and Africa, among other locals. Willow TV is showing the tournament in Canada and the U.S. while Fancode is streaming it.

The tournament offers value with general admission tickets for the day at $41, with kids 15 and under free when accompanied by an adult.

Entertainers booked for the concerts include Indian singers Harrdy Sandhu, Jassie Gill, Mickey Singh and Parmish Verma.

“We are taking entertainment and mixing it with cricket,” said Burrow.

Organizers say they plan to make the tournament an annual event. Only the lower bowl at B.C. Place will be open for the first year.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 6, 2025.