Toronto Blue Jays drop Cricket Canada from promotional day after fifth estate investigation

Cricket’s national sports governing body to no longer participate in Jays’ May 23 event.Cricket Canada has lost a major partner and one of its biggest platforms for helping expose new fans to the game, the fifth estate has confirmed.

In an email, the Toronto Blue Jays said that "Cricket Canada is not involved in this year's Cricket Day at the Park on May 23," though the team said the event will continue as scheduled.The annual event, entering its fourth season, connects fans of both baseball and cricket and exposes the latter to a wider audience.The decision comes after an investigation by the fifth estate that revealed broader allegations of corruption, financial mismanagement and attempts to fix parts of matches by major figures at Cricket Canada. Those accused all deny the allegations.

For the past three years, Cricket Canada national team players and officials have been featured at the popular promotional event in a pre-game ceremony at Toronto's Rogers Centre, including in 2024, when Saad Bin Zafar, who was captain of Canada's national men's cricket team at the time, threw out the first pitch. Last year, the first 15,000 fans who arrived at the stadium received a Blue Jays and Cricket Canada warm-up jacket.

Threats, corruption and intimidation: Is the Bishnoi gang calling shots at Cricket Canada?

The night was meant to be a celebration. Last July, a group of around 25 cricketers, fresh off a win at a major provincial tournament gathered at a restaurant in Surrey, B.C. Amidst the din of conversations and aromas of chicken curry and aloo gobi, what took place has become what sources describe as a defining moment in a dark new era taking over the sport in Canada, allegedly influencing everything from player selection up to the top position at Cricket Canada.

Two players from the tournament made their way from the outside patio to a table inside, where a star on Canada's national men's team was having dinner with another group. The national player — whom the fifth estate is not naming to protect his safety — stepped to one side of the restaurant where the two players issued a stark warning.

According to sources, they claimed they represented the Bishnoi gang — a violent criminal group designated a terrorist entity in Canada. They told the star that if he didn't support the rise of a young player named Dilpreet Bajwa and another player on the men's provincial team and the national team, he and his family would face consequences.  The Bishnoi gang is run from an Indian prison by its namesake, 33-year-old Lawrence Bishnoi. It has claimed responsibility for shootings, extortion and killings in Canada's South Asian community, including the death of Punjabi rap star Sidhu Moose Wala.