Not only this, there is a double bonanza for the cricket fans as Pakistan Players – wicketkeeper-batsman Kamran Akmal and speedster Sohail Tanvir (the most successful bowler of the IPL Season 1), have been allowed to join the Rajasthan Royals Team for this T20 match.
It was all announced in a news conference last week in London, attended by Secretary and Chief Executive MCC, Keith Bradshaw, IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi, Chief Executive Middlesex County Cricket Club Vinny Codrington, Chairman and co-owner Rajasthan Royals Manoj Badale, Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty, recent addition to ownership group of Rajasthan Royals.
“Middlesex are thrilled to be involved in such a prestigious charity match, adding the chance to match the 2008 champions of England and IPL in aid of the British Asian Trust is a huge honour,” said Codrington.
The Bollywood Connection with International Players expects a huge crowd turn around for the T20 match, thus helping the cause of the charity pretty well.
Bradshaw said, “The MCC is delighted Lord’s will be the first English ground to host an IPL team”.
The IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi also joined the praise worthy words and expressed his delight to see inaugural champions of the
IPL (Rajasthan Royals) playing against the English Twenty20 champions (Middlesex Panthers).
Squads:MIDDLESEX PANTHERS: Shaun Udal (captain), Billy Godleman, Phillip Hughes, Owais Shah, Eoin Morgan, David Malan, Neil Dexter, Gareth Berg, Ben Scott, Chris Silverwood, Steven Finn, Tyron Henderson, Murali Karthik.
RAJASTHAN ROYALS: Shane Warne (captain), Graeme Smith, Naman Ojha, Kamran Akmal, Ravindra Jadeja, Yusuf Pathan, Abhishek Raut, Johan Botha, Shaun Tait, Sohail Tanvir, Munaf Patel, Amit Singh, Siddharth Trivedi, Swapnil Asnodkar.
