Tendulkar, Lara to feature in Road Safety World Series T20
What's the story
Legends Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara will be back in action as the Road Safety World Series T20 gets underway in Raipur from March 2 to 21.
The first edition of the series got postponed in March last year due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
All the remaining matches will be played at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Cricket Stadium.
Here is more.
Players
Players from five playing nations to take part
A number of cricketing icons including Tendulkar, Lara, Virender Sehwag, Bret Lee, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Muttiah Muralitharan among others will be back to the field.
The stalwarts from five nations, Australia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, West Indies, and hosts India, will take part in the tournament.
Notably, the league aims to transform the mindset of people toward their behavior on the roads.
Tournament
The Road Safety World Series T20 competition
The Road Safety World Series is a T20 competition, featuring retired cricketers, that was organized in March 2020 by the Road Safety Cell of Maharashtra.
Approved by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the first edition was played across venues in Mumbai and Pune.
Both the ICC and BCCI had issued a No Objection Certificate (NOC) to conduct the tournament.
Teams, format
A look at the teams and format
Five teams namely India Legends, West Indies Legends, Sri Lanka Legends, Australia Legends and South Africa Legends were a part of the tournament.
The likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Brett Lee and Jonty Rhodes were named captains for the respective sides.
Meanwhile, the tournament was supposed to be played in a round-robin format, with the top two teams playing the final.
Matches
Indian fans witnessed the Tendulkar-Sehwag duo
The tournament began on March 7 last year, with West Indies Legends locking horns with India Legends in Mumbai.
Virender Sehwag's unbeaten 74 powered the India Legends to a seven-wicket victory.
The fans also got to see Master Blaster Tendulkar in full swing as he scored a 29-ball 37.
Three other encounters were held before the league was called-off with COVID-19 scare.
2021
Remaining seven matches to be held in March
A total of eleven matches were scheduled to be held in the league.
Now, the remaining seven games including the grand finale will take place at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Cricket Stadium from March 2 to 21.
Interestingly, Colors Cineplex had aired all the games of the tournament, while live streaming was available on Voot and Jio TV.
Elation
Founder Ravi Gaikwad elated with the resumption
Road Safety Series founder Ravi Gaikwad expressed contentment as the league is set to resume.
"I am extremely glad to announce that we are here again, and I am thankful to all, the players, the officials, our broadcast partners and our large work-force who have come together to take the initiative forward in these difficult times," he said.