Nitish Kumar has something serious to be treated during periods of rest time for the Cricket World Cup - armed with a stack of textbooks and notes, Canadian drummer has his homework to school to complete.

Kumar was only 16 years and 283 days when he played his first World Cup match in Zimbabwe on Monday Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium and became the youngest player to participate in any World Cup game.

He could have scored one run in 10 balls against his team suffered a loss of 175 run, but the student from Woburn Collegiate Institute is excited to represent Canada - yet.

"It's a privilege, playing with great players," he said in an interview soon after his net practices ahead of another tough Group A game against Pakistan on Thursday.

While Kumar shows his talent in the bar, his team is unlikely to play the next World Cup in Australia and New Zealand in 2015, the International Cricket Council has already announced plans to reduce 14-10 teams in the tournament.

Canada also have very little or no chance of getting Test status in the near future.

"At the moment I am not really concerned about that because the focus is on this World Cup," said Kumar, who wants to play county cricket in England in the future.

"Without Canada, I won't have this chance. But it will be great to play county cricket and move forward from there.

"I would love to play in England where county and professional cricket is quite good. We can't do that in Canada. I would like to play good county, good cricket."

When asked if he wanted to move to any other of the better cricket-playing nations, he said: "If there is no World Cup for Canada, then yes. I would like to play for England or India. India may be quite hard."

As England recorded a shock three-wicket loss to Ireland on Wednesday, this could be sooner rather than later, when checking credentials Kumar qualification.

Nicknamed Tendulkar Canada for his aggressive batting, Kumar in the game of Zimbabwe has opened for Canada with John Davison, the oldest player in the current World Cup 24 years managing high-level battery originating in the right hand Ontario.

"It was a great game and very hard but quite enjoyable. Being from the under 19 World Cup last year to this one I see a great difference in levels, skills and how people play."

Outside the game, Kumar says he wants to specialise in sports sciences, following his two elder sisters.

"I am still in high school bringing homework along with me, doing some homework in off days and when I am not playing.

"But the greater focus is on cricket at the moment. I want to be a professional cricketer first. The studies are just as a back-up."

The combination of cricket with the studies has been the biggest challenge for the teenager, who was born in Scarborough, Ontario, with family roots in Punjab, India.

"At one point I was really stressed with all the school work when nights were passing. But when you go and play cricket you are enjoying yourself and the experience is great, so I try not to get too stressed about school and focus on here," he said.

"For me, first it's cricket. I want to do something in cricket. My family gives me great support. They want me to play cricket, so they send me off every time I can go.

"Teachers who have played any sports before, they understand how big an occasion this is as it doesn't happen to everyone. They are actually behind me."

When asked about his favourite cricketer without any hesitation he replied: "It's Sachin Tendulkar. He is amazing. He is a simple guy and very friendly. I haven't played against him yet. Hopefully I will in the future."

Kumar was born in 1994, when Tendulkar was in his fifth year on the international cricket, the only son of parents who moved to Canada from Punjab when they were young.

When he was 11 years old, witnessed her father Kumar steel businessman died in a car accident in 2005.

"It's a big loss," he said. "The reason why I started cricket was because my dad used to go, watch and play. It's a big loss for me but he is with me I know.

"Every time when I play, I have a picture of him in my bag, so I remind myself that he is also with me.

"I still have so many relatives in Punjab, but I haven't met them yet. They are quite happy for me playing and seeing me on television."

The young cricketer, who can speak Hindi, Punjabi, French, and English, can also bowl off-breaks.

"Now the main focus is on batting. I want to be a really good batsman, score a lot of runs and be a very consistent player. A player who other people can watch and say 'this guy has done well and his performance is consistent for his country'."