Reports have confirmed that the India Maharajas vs World XI match in the Legends League Cricket will not feature former India captain and Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) President Sourav Ganguly. The BCCI President has pulled out due to personal reasons. Notably, the tournament is set to start on 16 September.
The Legends League will see some of the renowned retired cricketers from all across the world go head to head. The tournament will kick off at Eden Gardens in Kolkata, where India Maharajas will take on the World XI in the first match.
The Indian team was set to be captained by Sourav Ganguly but reportedly he had to pull out of the game. As per inputs published in TOI, Ganguly’s decision to withdraw his participation was quoted, "Yes I am not playing because of lack of time. I was playing one game only for Charity."
This match will celebrate the 75th Independence day of India. Kolkata will be hosting three matches starting from September 16 to 18. Then the league will move to cities like New Delhi, Cuttack, and Jodhpur for the rest of the games.
The venues for the knockout matches and final are yet to be announced. Indian cricketing stars like Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Harbhajan Singh, and Irfan Pathan have been named as the captain of the four teams which will lock horns in as many as 16 games.
Check out the squads for the India Maharajas vs World Giants Independence Day Special Legends League Cricket match:
India Maharajas:
Virender Sehwag, Mohammad Kaif, Yusuf Pathan, S Badrinath, Irfan Pathan, Parthiv Patel, Stuart Binny, S Sreesanth, Harbhajan Singh, Naman Ojha, Ashoke Dinda, Pragyan Ojha, Ajay Jadeja, RP Singh, Joginder Sharma
World Giants:
Eoin Morgan (c), Lendl Simmons, Herschelle Gibbs, Jacques Kallis, Sanath Jayasuriya, Matt Prior, Nathan McCullum, Jonty Rhodes, Muttiah Muralitharan, Dale Steyn, Hamilton Masakadza, Mashrafe Mortaza, Asghar Afghan, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, Kevin O’Brien, Denesh Ramdin.