The Indian Cricket Board and Sourav Ganguly faced some backlash as Herschelle Gibbs was named in the World Giants team for the upcoming Legends Cricket League. Gibbs had earlier accused the Indian Cricket Board for putting pressure on him to not play the Kashmir Premier League. The league was in question due to its links with Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan.
Now, the organizers of the upcoming Legends Cricket League have made a U-turn on their decision and removed Gibbs from the World Giants team. The former South African batter has now been replaced by Shane Watson from Australia.
Elsewhere, the Sri Lankan southpaw, Sanath Jayasuriya has also been replaced by Daniel Vettori. The World Giants are slated to play against the Indian Maharajas on September 16th at the Eden Gardens.
An official statement from the organizers of the Legends Cricket League read,
“Legends League Cricket has decided to replace Herschelle Gibbs and Sanath Jayasuriya in the World Giant squad for the special match.”
The India Maharajas team will be led by the Indian Cricket Board president and former India Captain Sourav Ganguly whereas Eoin Morgan, the former England captain, will lead the World Giants team. This special match is organized as a curtain raiser for the second season of the Legends League Cricket, starting from September 17th.
The India Maharajas will feature the likes of Virender Sehwag, the Pathan brothers, and Harbhajan Singh, while the World Giants team will have Watson, Jacques Kallis, Dale Steyn and many of last year’s greats.
Here are the teams for the special Legends League Cricket match:
India Maharajas: Sourav Ganguly (captain), Virender Sehwag, Mohammad Kaif, Yusuf Pathan, S Badrinath, Irfan Pathan, Parthiv Patel (wicketkeeper), Stuart Binny, S Sreesanth, Harbhajan Singh, Naman Ojha (wicketkeeper), Ashok Dinda, Pragyan Ojha, Ajay Jadeja, RP Singh, Joginder Sharma.
World Giants: Eoin Morgan (captain), Lendl Simmons, Shane Watson, Jacques Kallis, Daniel Vettori, Matt Prior (wicketkeeper), Nathan McCullum, Jonty Rhodes, Muttiah Muralitharan, Dale Steyn, Hamilton Masakadza, Mashrafe Mortaza, Asghar Afghan, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, Kevin O’Brien, Denesh Ramdin (wicketkeeper).
