The Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) Bold competitive cricket club might not be on everyone's radar, even though cricket has a growing presence across Canada.

Kunal Kunal, one of the team's standout players, only discovered the club after his first year.

"In my first year, I didn't even know there was a cricket team," he said. "So I missed the tryouts."

Once he joined, it didn't take long for Kunal to make an impact and become a dominant force for the squad.

Kunal has led the Bold cricket team to back-to-back national titles, most recently taking home the CCUC (Canadian College & University Cricket) TD Men's National Championship in late September.

In the tournament finals against the University of Toronto Scarborough Campus, Kunal led TMU in overs bowled, reaching the T20 maximum of 4.0. In those chances, he logged 15 dot balls, 2 wickets, and an economy rate of just 3.00 (the lowest on the team of anyone who pitched 1.0 overs or more). 

The Bold's dominant 48-run win in the semifinal against Brock University resulted in similarly impressive stats for Kunal: 15 dot balls and 2 wickets. 

As a bowling all-rounder, Kunal's position is one of the most important in cricket. Rather than specialize in one of just bowling or batting, he boasts the ability to do both. That versatility is crucial in a sport like cricket where each team can only have 11 active players that will nearly all have to bat and bowl at some point during the match.

A player with such talent doesn't come around often. Kunal's abilities help make the Bold one of the best post-secondary cricket teams in the country.

Kunal's talent was built from years of playing the game, dating back to his childhood in his hometown of Jalandhar, India.

"Cricket has so much hype back home," he said, "I was around 10 years old when I got into it. I joined an academy, and started learning how to play."

After moving to Canada in 2019, Kunal did his best to stay connected to the sport — but COVID-19 forced him to stop playing.

"I didn't play for two years," he explained.

When the pandemic finally let up, Kunal got back into cricket by playing around at open nets. After getting the rust off, his skill was immediately noticeable:

"Once you go to open nets and start bowling, people approach you. That's what happened to me. I started bowling and they saw my talent."

His talent caught the eye of some recruitment scouts, and before he knew it, Kunal was playing professionally. 

He's made appearances for multiple different teams in the Brampton-Etobicoke & District Cricket League (BEDCL) since 2024: the Brampton Royals, National, and Sonu Battalion. The talent of the competition there is higher than ever, and it features multiple players on the Canadian National Team.

"I've played with some [National Team players]…I can learn a lot from them. The competition is great," he said.

But despite his professional experience, Kunal missed cricket tryouts in his first year at TMU.
It wasn't until his friend and now Bold teammate, Harjap Saini, informed him about the team in his second year. He showed up to tryouts and easily made the team. 

While on the Bold, he consistently trained with both Saini and brothers Aarav and Aarth Kuyeskar.

"Practicing with Aarth and Aarav helped me and pushed me to get better than I was before," he praised, "we learned a lot together."

With all of that practice, it was only a matter of time until Kunal got his chance and performed.

"At first, no one knew how I played, so I was prepared if I didn't appear in any matches…but I got a chance in our second match of the 2024 Nationals. [The Bold team captain] gave me an over and I got two wickets while only giving up three runs. I played in all of our matches from then on." he said.

As time passed, Kunal gained more and more respect from both his teammates and the media covering the Bold. 

"Even on the livestreams, the commentators were saying, 'Okay, Kunal is bowling really well,'" he joked.

Although his journey to the Bold was a unique one, filled with plenty of stops and starts, cricket has always had Kunal's heart — and he's always had the talent.

"Cricket is a very important sport to me," he said, "I just want to perform and make sure I keep moving forward with this."

In the future, Kunal's focus is set on three different targets: continuing to win with the Bold, winning in the BEDCL, and even making the Canadian National Team roster like some of his professional teammates. With all of that experience, he'll be set up for success at TMU during the 2026 cricket season. 

The popular phrase, "As quickly as it arrived, it was gone," doesn't apply to Kunal. He may have arrived on the cricket scene pretty suddenly, but he's definitely not going anywhere.