• Naman Ojha, Vinay Kumar in India Legends squad; Russel Arnold and Upul Tharanga strengthen Sri Lanka Legends’ squad  

Yusuf Pathan, Naman Ojha and Vinay Kumar will feature in the India Legends team in the Unacademy Road Safety World Series scheduled to start at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Cricket Stadium in Raipur from March 5 to 21, 2021.

Sri Lanka Legends have also included Sanath Jayasuriya, Russel Arnold and Upul Tharanga in their team led by Thilakratna Dilshan. India Legends play their first match against Bangladesh Legends on March 5 and Sri Lanka Legends start their campaign against West Indies Legends on March 6.

All-rounder Yusuf Pathan and wicketkeeper-batsman had recently announced their retirements from all forms of cricket, which means they will be the new stars to watch out in the Unacademy Road Safety World Series.   

As cricket is the most followed sport in the country and cricketers are looked upon as idols, this annual T20 League aims to influence and change people’s mind set towards their behaviour on the roads and create awareness towards road safety in the country. The Unacademy Road Safety World Series is an initiative by Road Safety Cell of Maharashtra in association with Professional Management Group (PMG) spearheaded by Little Master Sunil Gavaskar as the Commissioner of the Series and Sachin Tendulkar is the Brand Ambassador of the League. Education technology platform Unacademy is the title sponsor and Viacom18 is the broadcast partner of the league. The first edition of the series had to be called off after four games on March 11, 2020 due to the pandemic. Tickets for the matches are available on BookMyShow.com and matches will be broadcast Live on COLORS Cineplex, COLORS Kannada Cinema, FTA channel Rishtey Cineplex and streamed live on VOOT and Jio.

THE SQUADS

India Legends: Sachin Tendulkar (captain), Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammed Kaif, Pragyan Ojha, Noel David, Munaf Patel, Irfan Pathan, Manpreet Gony, Yusuf Pathan, Naman Ojha (wicketkeeper), Subramaniam Badrinath and Vinay Kumar.

Sri Lanka Legends: Thilakaratne Dilshan (captain), Sanath Jayasuriya, Farveez Maharoof , Rangana Herath, Thilan Thushara, Ajantha Mendis, Chamara Kapugedera, Upul Tharanga, Chamara Silva, Chinthaka Jayasinghe, Dhammika Prasad, Nuwan Kulasekara, Russel Arnold, Dulanjana Wijesinghe and Malinda Warnapura

West Indies Legends: Brian Lara (captain), Tino Best, Ridley Jacobs (wicketkeeper), Narsingh Deonarine, Sulieman Benn, Dinanath Ramnarine, Adam Sanford, Carl Hooper, Dwayne Smith, Ryan Austin, William Perkins and Mahendra Nagamootoo. 

South Africa Legends: Jonty Rhodes (captain), Morné van Wyk, Garnett Kruger, Roger Telemachus, Justin Kemp, Alviro Petersen, Nantie Hayward, Andrew Puttick, Loots Bosman, Zander de Bruyn, Thandi Tshabalala, Monde Zondeki, Makhaya Ntini and Lloyd Norris-Jones.

England Legends: Kevin Pietersen (captain), Owais Shah, Philip Mustard, Monty Panesar, Chris Tremlett, Kabir Ali, Gavin Hamilton, Paul Schofield, Jonathan Trott, Ryan Sidebottom, Usman Afzaal, Matthew Hoggard, James Tredwell, James Tindall and Darren Maddy.

Bangladesh Legends: Khaled Mahmud, Nafees Iqbal, Mohd Rafique (captain), Abdur Razzaq, Khalid Mashud, Hanan Sarkar, Javed Omar, Rajin Saleh, Mehrab Hossain, Aftab Ahmed, Alamgir Kabir. Mohd Sharif, Mushfiqur Rahman, Mohd Nazimuddin and Mamoon Rashid.