Goan hand adds spin to Portugal’s T20 World Cup dreams for 2028

Panaji: When Sherman Vaz obtained a Portuguese passport and moved to Ireland in 2023, he dreamed of representing one of Europe’s top clubs in futsal. Instead, he finds himself playing cricket for Portugal and is now a leading hand for the country after picking up four wickets on his international debut last year.Once based in Margao, Sherman represented Goa in all age-group cricket competitions from under-13 to under-25, and even made it to the Ranji Trophy camp twice, without being selected. His brother, Keenan, is an accomplished cricketer who kept wickets for the state at the highest domestic level.

Once Sherman was done playing professional cricket in 2017, he took to football and futsal, representing top clubs like Mohammedan Sporting in futsal and FC Bardez in the Goa Professional League.

He was chasing his futsal dream abroad when, almost out of the blue, he received a call from Cricket Portugal, an affiliate member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) since 1996.On the hunt for players who could strengthen their national team, Portugal reached out to Keenan, who instead suggested his younger brother, already in Europe, armed with a Portuguese passport.“I was called for trials in London which eventually didn’t work out,” Sherman, currently in Goa on a break, told TOI on Tuesday. “I was then asked to directly join the team for a home series against Norway, which was a little more than two months away.”

An offspinner with plenty of potential during his younger days, Sherman, now 32, had not held the ball for six years, so he didn’t know how he would perform. It was winter in Ireland, where he is based, so training outdoors was ruled out. He just trained on his own, conditioned his hands, and joined the team, where he had eight training sessions.Portugal lost the opening game against Norway with Sherman on the bench. He was part of the team for the next game and showed what he is capable of, picking up four wickets on his international debut.

Another wicket followed in the next game as the hosts won the series 2-1.Sherman also featured for Portugal against Belgium in a friendly and is now eagerly looking forward to the European qualifiers for ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2028.“For me, representing Portugal, it’s a big opportunity to play some of the big names in cricket. There are lots of Australians, New Zealanders, even Test cricketers, who are playing for European teams.

We ourselves ourselves looking to rope in a big name, who can bring attention to Portugal cricket. Besides, the goal of moving to the top 30 and qualifying for the T20 World Cup remains a priority,” said Sherman.Ranked 43 in the world, Portugal can only play international T20 matches. They are hoping to break into the top 30 in the world, an achievement that would bring them increased funding, games on turf wickets and, more-importantly, one-day international status.There are six players of Indian origin in the Portugal team, five of them from Daman & Diu. The others are from South Africa, Bangladesh, and Pakistan. Born in Portugal, Australian international allrounder Moises Henriques is among the players that the European minnows are looking to convince.“I really like playing international cricket. To be fair, T20 is not my strongest format, I like the long four-day (Ranji Trophy) format. But in cricket, you have to adapt. The rules are changing, the game is evolving, and you need to make adjustments to survive. I know it will take time, but I am determined to give my best for Portugal cricket. The facilities are not there; we have only concrete nets that we train. But this is a big year,” said Sherman.Should Portugal top a group that will comprise Bulgaria, Czechia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Israel, and top-ranked Spain (at 30), it could be a different ball game. And Sherman will surely have a significant role to play.