New York: Legendry Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar and Australian spinner Shane Warne on Friday rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange to become the first cricketers ever to perform the ceremonial activity at the world's largest stock exchange.
Both stars will against play each other in the All Stars T20 series, which begins on Saturday.
Tendulkar and Warne will captain 28 of the world's greatest cricketers for the inaugural 'Cricket All Stars' series in New York, Houston and Los Angeles this month.
The teams -- Sachin's Blasters and Warne's Warriors -- will play the T20 format and players were assigned to the two teams through a live draw of lots. However, a toss of coin between Tendulkar and Warne decided in whose team Akhtar would be. Tendulkar won the toss and hugged Akhtar as it emerged that he will be part of his team.
Former Pakistani fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar heaved a sigh of relief when he was named in the team of his long-time rival Sachin Tendulkar for the inaugural three-match series and said he's done bowling against the Indian batting legend whom he considers a "brutal force" and the "greatest player history has ever seen."
"Thank God for that, that I am playing for Sachin and Sachin is playing for me. I am done bowling against him. I have been bowling against him for last 15 years and I was not looking forward to bowling against him, to be honest," a cheerful Akhtar said.
Here is the full list which will give you an idea about who is playing in which team.
Sachin's Blasters:
Virender Sehwag, Sourav Ganguly, Brian Lara, VVS Laxman, Mahela Jayawardene, Carl Hooper, Moin Khan, Muttiah Muralitharan, Graeme Swann, Shaun Pollock, Curtly Ambrose, Glenn McGrath, Lance Klusener
Warne's Warriors:
Mathew Hayden, Michael Vaughan, Ricky Ponting, Jonty Rhodes, Jacques Kallis, Andrew Symonds, Kumar Sangakkara, Saqlain Mushtaq, Daniel Vettori, Courtney Walsh, Wasim Akram, Allan Donald, Ajit Agarkar
