NEW DELHI: The Centre has reportedly sent a proposal to the Board of Control for Cricket in India to organise a Twenty20 match on August 22 between India and the rest of the world as part of celebrations to mark 75 years of India’s independence.
The match, if conducted, is likely to be held at Delhi’s Feroz Shah Kotla ground.
PTI, quoting sources, reports that the Ministry of Culture, which sent the proposal, is in talks with BCCI officials to try and rope in top Indian players as well as popular cricketers from abroad to play the match as part of the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav campaign.
BCCI sources told the newswire that at this point of time, the proposal is still being discussed as there are a lot of “operational and logistical elements” associated with procuring the services of international players.
“We have received a proposal from the government to organise a cricket match between India XI and World XI on August 22. For a rest of the world squad, we would need at least 13-14 international players and their availability is something that we need to check on,” a source said.
He added during that time, English domestic cricket would be underway and the Caribbean Premier League would also begin.
As far as services of international cricketers are concerned, top BCCI officials will be in Birmingham for the ICC annual conference (July 22-26), where they might speak to officials of other boards to release a few of their players for the match in India, PTI further reports.
An away series against Zimbabwe, comprising three ODIs, ends on August 20 so the players selected would not be available. However, top players like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Rishabh Pant, who are not going to Zimbabwe, will be available before they leave for Asia Cup starting August 27 in Sri Lanka.
