Virender Sehwag and 'Universe Boss' Chris Gayle will be among 90 former cricketers who will be in action in the Legends League Cricket, which begins at the Eden Gardens with a charity match here on Friday.
Sehwag will be leading Gujarat Giants in the tournament opener against Gautam Gambhir's India Capitals on Saturday.
But before that on Friday, Sehwag will lead India Maharajas against Team World Giants, captained by South African great Jacques Kallis, in a charity match for Kapil Dev’s Khushii Foundation which supports girl child education.
Harbhajan Singh will captain Manipal Tigers while Irfan Pathan will lead Bhilwara Kings in the four-team tournament which will have 16 matches including the charity fixture.
The league will feature all women umpires in a first-of-its-kind initiative in India.
The tournament's first edition was held in Muscat earlier this year.
Here's the full schedule:
Sep 16, 7.30 pm IST: India Maharajas vs World Giants, Eden Gardens, Kolkata
Sep 17, 7.30 pm IST: India Capitals vs Gujarat Giants, Eden Gardens, Kolkata
Sep 18, 7.30 pm IST: Manipal Tigers vs Bhilwara Kings, Lucknow
Sep 19, 7.30 pm IST: Manipal Tigers vs. Gujarat Giants, Lucknow
Sep 21, 7.30 pm IST: India Capitals vs. Bhilwara Kings, Lucknow
Sep 22, 7.30 pm IST: Manipal Tigers vs. Gujarat Giants, Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi
Sep 24, 7.30 pm IST: India Capitals vs. Bhilwara Kings, Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi
Sep 25, 4.00 pm IST: India Capitals vs. Gujarat Giants, Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi
Sep 26, 7.30 pm IST: Manipal Tigers vs. Bhilwara Kings, Barabati Stadium, Cuttack
Sep 27, 7.30 pm IST: Gujarat Giants vs. Bhilwara Kings, Barabati Stadium, Cuttack
Sep 29, 7.30 pm IST: India Capitals vs. Manipal Tigers, Barabati Stadium, Cuttack
Sep 30, 7.30 pm IST: Gujarat Giants vs. Bhilwara Kings, Barkatullah Khan Stadium, Jodhpur
Oct 1, 7.30 pm IST: India Capitals vs. Manipal Tigers, Barkatullah Khan Stadium, Jodhpur
Oct 2, 4.00 pm IST: Qualifier 1, Barkatullah Khan Stadium, Jodhpur
Oct 3, 7.30 pm IST: Eliminator, TBA
Oct 5, 7.30 pm IST: Final, TBA
Here's the full squad:
Gujarat Giants: Virender Sehwag (C), Chris Gayle, Parthiv Patel, Ajantha Mendis, Manvinder Bisla, Lendl Simmons, Richard Levi, Mitchell McClenaghan, Stuart Binny, Kevin O'Brien, Ashok Dinda, Joginder Sharma, Graeme Swann, Chris Tremlett and Elton Chigumbura.
Manipal Tigers: Harbhajan Singh (C), Parvinder Awana, VRV Singh, Imran Tahir, Brett Lee, Muttiah Muralitharan, Phil Mustard, Mohammad Kaif, Ryan Sidebottom, Lance Klusener, Dimitri Mascarenhas, Romesh Kaluwitharana, Reetinder Sodhi, Corey Anderson and Daren Sammy.
India Capitals: Gautam Gambhir (C), Liam Plunkett, Rajat Bhatia, Hamilton Masakadza, Mashrafe Mortaza, John Mooney, Ravi Bopara, Pravin Tambe, Denesh Ramdin, Asghar Afghan, Mitchell Johnson, Prosper Utseya, Ross Taylor, Jacques Kallis, Ajantha Mendis and Pankaj Singh.
Bhilwara Kings: Irfan Pathan (C), Yusuf Pathan, Nick Compton, Sreesanth, Shane Watson, Tim Bresnan, Owais Shah, Monty Panesar, Naman Ojha, William Porterfield, Fidel Edwards, Samit Patel, Matt Prior, Tino Best and Sudeep Tyagi.
India Maharajas: Virender Sehwag (c), Mohammed Kaif, Yusuf Pathan, Subramaniam Badrinath, Irfan Pathan, Parthiv Patel (wk), Stuart Binny, S Sreesanth, Harbhajan Singh, Naman Ojha (wk), Ashoke Dinda, Pragyan Ojha, Ajay Jadeja, RP Singh, Joginder Sharma, Reetinder Singh Sodhi
World Giants: Jacques Kallis (c), Lendl Simmons, Herschelle Gibbs, Sanath Jayasuriya, Matt Prior (wk), Nathan McCullum, Jonty Rhodes, Muttiah Muralitharan, Dale Steyn, Hamilton Masakadza, Mashrafe Mortaza, Asghar Afghan, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, Kevin O’Brien, Denesh Ramdin (wk)
(With PTI Inputs)
