The Indian government has requested the Board of Control for Cricket in India to organize a special cricket match to celebrate India’s 75th Independence Day this year. As per reports, the BCCI will be organizing a T20I game on 22nd August between India and a special Rest of the World team to commemorate this special national occasion.
An exhibition match between India and RoW to be played on 22 August to celebrate 75th Independence: BCCI sources
The information about this match was first posted on Twitter by cricket enthusiast Johns. The news was first reported by the Press Trust of India.
The government has sent a proposal to BCCI to organize a cricket match on August 22nd between India and the rest of the world as a part of the celebration of 75th Independence Day. (Source – PTI)
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) July 10, 2022
Most of the developments surrounding the news are still unclear and unverified. An anonymous source associated with BCCI, however, did comment that the proposal was still under discussion as there are a lot of “operational and logistical elements” involved with procuring the services of international players for the Rest of the World Team. It is understood that the BCCI is trying to acquire at least 13-14 overseas stars for this exhibition match.
“We have received a proposal from the government to organise a cricket match between India XI and World XI on August 22. For the 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,” the source was quoted as saying.
It’s worth noting that at the proposed time of this match, several international players would be engaged in assignments like the Caribbean Premier League and the English domestic season, so their availability would be a big talking point. But more importantly, as of now, the date of this match is directly clashing with the 3rd ODI of India’s scheduled limited-overs tour in Zimbabwe.
Match coinciding with India’s tour to Zimbabwe
What this means is that several of the players participating in the Zimbabwe series would be unable to participate in this exhibition match. But given how much committed the Indian government seems to be to organizing this celebratory game, there is a strong likelihood that almost all the Indian marquee players will be made available for selection on special request.
More information about this match is likely to arrive in the coming weeks, as several top officials from the BCCI will be in Birmingham for the ICC annual conference. It is expected that the BCCI will get in touch with officials from the other cricketing boards during this meeting to release players for this game.
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Interestingly, Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ramiz Raja will also be there at this meeting. And given how vocal Ramiz has been about IPL’s long windows and impact on international cricket in recent times, it would be interesting to see if the BCCI decides to invite any Pakistan players into the World XI team.