NEW DELHI: Cricket legends Sachin Tendulkar and Shane Warne were given a green signal by the International Cricket Council for their three-match T20 series in the United States.
“It is a one-off event in November and the ICC doesn’t have a problem with that.It has spelt out a few conditions to Tendulkar and Warne and they have agreed to abide by them,” a source was quoted as saying by the Times of India.
Interestingly, ICC had recently disaffiliated USA Cricket Association and put a new governing body in place for cricket administration in the country.Part of the revenue from these three T20 games will be pocketed by the ICC, which it will use to promote the sport in the US.
26 players including the likes of Rahul Dravid, Glenn McGrath, Jacques Kallis, Adam Gilchrist, Sourav Ganguly, Brian Lara, VVS Laxman and Wasim Akram will be part of this series.
“These players have big market value and can bring the Americans to watch the game. It can only help the game to grow in the country,” the source added.
The matches will be played at Wrigley Field (Chicago), Yankee Stadium (New York) and Dodger Stadium (Los Angeles).Despite endorsing this new series, ICC will not offer any help with regards to infrastructure, which has to be taken care of by Warne and Tendulkar.
Now that ICC has given its clearance, the promoters will now be able to lure many more big name players to be part of this series.
“There are many of them associated with the ICC in different capacities. Unless the world body gave its clearance, these stars wouldn’t have been able to play in the series. But that’s settled and they can have the players of their choice,” the source added.