Thursday 18 / April / 2024
Muscat: Explosive batsman Virender Sehwag, all-rounder Yuvraj Singh, and spin ace Harbhajan Singh will be among the players representing the Indian team at the Howzat Legends League Cricket, which takes place in Oman later this month.
Beginning on 20 January, the tournament will feature three teams representing India, Asia, and the rest of the world. The Indian team has been christened the India Maharajas, and features plenty of ex-cricketers familiar to many.
The India Maharajas team consists of Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Irfan Pathan, Yusuf Pathan, Subramaniam Badrinath, RP Singh, Pragyan Ojha, Naman Ojha, Manpreet Gony, Hemang Badani, Venugopal Rao, Munaf Patel, Sanjay Bangar, Nayan Mongia and Amit Bhandari.
“Like true Kings, they will come, they will see and they will conquer,” said Ravi Shastri, commissioner, Howzat Legends League Cricket. “The cricket Maharajas from India are coming together to take part in the battle against the other two top teams from Asia, and the rest of the world.”
Adding to this, Raman Raheja, CEO, Howzat Legends League Cricket, said: “They are the Maharajas of cricket. The legends from Indian cricket are coming together to rule once again as kings. We call them the India Maharajas and they are ready to set the pitch on fire with their aggressive cricket.
“We had to make sure that in our endeavour to promote competitive cricket, the fitness level of cricketers are monitored before the final team is selected,” he added. “Our Director of Sports Science Andrew Leipus has been working on that. In fact we are going to soon announce a list of reserve players as well, keeping in mind the current situation.”
The Asia team – known as the Asian Lions – have already announced their squad, featuring Shoaib Akhtar, Shahid Afridi, Sanath Jayasuriya, Muttiah Muralitharan, Chaminda Vaas, Romesh Kaluwitharana, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Azhar Mahmood, Upul Tharanga, Misbah-ul-Haq, Mohammed Hafeez, Shoaib Malik, Mohammed Yousuf, Umar Gul and Asghar Afghan. Younis Khan is being replaced by Kamran Akmal.
“It will be the mother of all rivalries when Sehwag, Yuvraj, and Bhajji play against Shahid Afridi, Muttiah Muralitharan, Chaminda Vaas, and Shoaib Akhtar. This will be a blast from the past for the fans,” Shastri added. With such a strong lineup, cricket fans all over the world are up for a very competitive and entertaining cricket tournament. Players representing the rest of the world are to be revealed very soon. Times of Oman and TFM are the exclusive local media partners of the tournament.
