Brian Lara with Sachin Tendulkar
The opening match of the Unacademy Road Safety World Series between the Sachin Tendulkar-led India Legends and Brian Lara-led West Indies Legends will be held on Saturday at the Wankhede Stadium here.
Tendulkar will be playing at the Wankhede Stadium for the first time since he retired in November 13, 2013. The match also gains significance because it will be played to create awareness about road safety in a country where one person gets killed in road mishap every four minutes.
The Indian team had an extensive practice session at the CCI on Friday with all players getting together to do what they have been doing best for the better part of their lives.
India's 2011 World Cup hero Yuvraj Singh said, "The body is tired, but we will give our best with whatever is remaining. Quite a few members of the Indian World Cup winning squad are here and it is an excellent feeling to be back with the same group on the field. It will be fun but at the same time it will be serious cricket out there, which we are playing for a cause. Sachin has been practicing very hard. Our bowling looks good but fielding will be a concern."
"Road safety is a very important message that we are trying to convey through this tournament, and I am sure the message will reach each and every one and people will be focused on the road, which they are not most of the time. We think about office, think about family and many other things even while driving whereas we should be focused only on driving," he added.
Though Lara will be leading the West Indies side in the five-nation T20 tournament, it was former West Indies skipper Carl Hooper who led the show at the nets on Friday.
Lara, who showed some brilliance of the past during his stint at the Bushfire charity match in Australia recently, didn't bat long but was concentrating on fielding whereas Shivnaraine Chanderpaul had a lengthy batting session at the nets.
