Road Safety World Series T20 2020-21 News

The saga of Indian Legends players testing positive for Covid-19 continues as Subramaniam Badrinath, a former India batter and member of the India Legends team at the Road Safty World Series has tested positive for the dreaded virus. Informing about the news, Badrinath, 40, tweeted a photo saying, “I have been taking all necessary precautions and have been getting tested regularly. However, I have tested POSITIVE for Covid-19 and have some mild symptoms.” The former Chennai Super Kings players further added that he will be isolating himself at home with all the necessary protocols on the advice of his physician. Badrinath is the third Indian Legends player after legendary Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar and former India all-rounder Yusuf Pathan to have participated in the Road Safety World Series T20 tournament and tested positive for Covid-19. Earlier yesterday morning Tendulkar revealed that he had tested positive for Covid-19 and later in the evening the senior Pathan tweeted about his health condition, informing that he too had contracted Covid-19.

Former India all-rounder Yusuf Pathan has tested positive for the Covid-19. This news comes in the wake of Indian cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar testing positive for the dreaded virus. Confirming the news, the senior Pathan tweeted that he is quarantining at home with all necessary precautions and asked those who came in contact with him in the past few days to get themselves tested as well. Earlier today, Sachin had posted a similar tweet that he had contacted Covid-19 and was isolating himself at home and wishes poured in for the legend. Both these players were part of the Road Safety World Series which took place in Raipur, Chhattisgarh just recently. India Legends one of the six teams part of the tournament were crowned champions beating Sri Lanka Legends in the finals in a fully packed stadium with an estimated crowd attendance of more than 40,000. Kevin Pietersen, the skipper of the England Legends team, which also participated in the competition tweeted saying why do stars need to confirm that they have Covid and his tweet wasn’t considered to be in a good taste, especially because it came after Sachin’s confirmatory tweet.

In front of a full-house crowd at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh Stadium in Raipur, former India stars Yuvraj Singh and Yusuf Pathan lit up the skies with their blistering sixes as they helped India Legends win the inaugural edition of the Road Safety World Series T20 tournament. The Indian Legends side defeated Sri Lanka Legends by 14 runs in the final game. While Yuvraj hit four fours and four sixes in his 41 balls 60 run innings, Yusuf seemed to be dealing only in boundaries hitting five sixes and four fours in his 36 balls 62. He came good with the ball too, picking up two crucial wickets of dangermen Tillakaratne Dilshan and Sanath Jayasuriya. It was this all-round performance of his that earned him the Man of the Match award in the final. The target of 182 set up by India Legends was never going to be an easy chase, even in the dew for Sri Lanka. It turned out to be difficult than expected as the team lost their skipper Dilshan very cheaply. Jayasuriya looked a vintage version of himself till the time he was on the crease, scoring 43 off 35 with the help of five fours and a six. Chamara Silva went cheaply. But what hurt Sri Lanka more was the departure of Upul Tharanga, another man in form departing without performing much. He was removed by Irfan Pathan. In the end, it came down to lesser-known players like Chinthaka Jayasinghe and Kaushalya Weeraratne. They did amazingly well, recovering Sri Lanka legends innings, taking it from 91-4 to 155 in a span of just 35 balls. The Legends from the island nation came in touching distance of the victory after hitting R Vinay Kumar for 19 runs in the 18th over. Only 30 was needed from the last two when Manpreet Gony took the ball and removed Weeraratne, changing the course of the game. Weeraratne scored 38 off 15 with the help of three sixes and three fours. Jayasinghe, however, stood there and hit a six off the very first ball of the last over, bringing the equation down to 18 from five balls. Unfortunately, he got off the strike the very next ball and Nuwan Kulasekara missed the third ball, making 18 from three, When Jayasinghe got back the strike the target became almost impossible to achieve, with 16 required off the last two. He got run out in an attempt to retain the strike for the last ball. Earlier in the day, India Legends were asked to bat by Sri Lanka Legends. After the fall of Virender Sehwag and Subrimanium Badrinath cheaply, the Legends side rode on some brilliantly nostalgic drives from Sachin Tendulkar and then the explosive batting from Yuvraj and Pathan to get to 181 in their allotted 20 overs.

The Sri Lanka legends led by a spell-bounding performance by Nuwan Kulasekara, defeated the South Africa Legends in the second semi-final of the Road Safety World Series T20 to book a place in the finals. The Sri Lankan Legends team will now face the Indian Legends in the final of the event at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium at Raipur. Kulasekara was at his usual best as he removed dangerman Andrew Puttick initially in his first spell for a duck. In his second spell, he took a leap forward and took out two wickets each in his last two overs, ending the South African innings, without any flourish. Even after getting a solid start from Alviro Petersen and Morne van Wyk for the third wicket, the Proteas Legends team could only score 125 in their allocated 50 overs. van Wyk was the highest scorer with 53 from 47 balls. Chasing an easy target of 126, the Sri Lankans didn’t waste much time even as their best batsman and skipper in Tilakratne Dilshan was removed cheaply for 18. Legendary Sanath Jayasuriya too failed to impress. Chinthaka Jayasinghe and Upul Tharanga then combined and finished the game in the 18th over, scoring together 70 runs in 48 balls. While Jayasinghe remained unbeaten on 47 from 25, Tharanga was not out on 39 from 44.

The Road Safety World Series will be played in Raipur between March 5 to 21. The first edition of the tournament was called off just after four matches due to the COVID-19 outburst back in 2020. The tournament this year will be played in the newly-built Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Cricket Stadium in Raipur. The stadium has a seating capacity of 65,000. The series is being played to spread awareness towards road safety in the country. Teams: Australia Legends side has pulled out of the T20 series but they are well covered by the two new additions this season from England and Bangladesh. India Legends Sri Lanka Legends West Indies Legends South Africa Legends Bangladesh Legends England Legends Where can I get the tickets for the tournament? The tickets of the Road Safety World Series can be bought from Bookmyshow. Schedule Which channels will telecast the tournament? The Road Safety World Series will be LIVE telecast on COLORS Cineplex, COLORS Kannada Cinema, FTA channel Rishtey Cineplex from 7 pm IST onwards from March 4, 2021. How to live stream the Road Safety World Series? The LIVE streaming of the Road Safety T20 matches will be on Voot and Jio apps and websites. Full Squads of the teams: India Legends: Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammed Kaif, Yusuf Pathan, Naman Ojha, Zaheer Khan, Pragyan Ojha, Noel David, Munaf Patel, Irfan Pathan, Manpreet Gony. Sri Lanka Legends: Upul Tharanga, Chamara Silva, Chinthaka Jayasinghe, Thilan Thushara, Nuwan Kulasekara, Russel Arnold, Ajantha Mendis, Farveez Maharoof, Sanath Jayasuriya, Manjula Prasad, Malinda Warnapura, Dammika Prasad, Rangana Herath, Chamara Kapugedra, Tillakratne Dilshan, Dulanjana Wijesinghe. Bangladesh Legends: Khaled Mahmud, Mohammed Sharif, Mushfiqur Rahman, A N M Mamun Ur Rashed, Nafees Iqbal, Mohammad Rafique, Abdur Razzak, Khaled Mashud, Hannan Sarker, Javed Omar, Rajin Saleh, Mehrab Hossain, Aftab Ahmed, Alamgir Kabir. South Africa Legends: Morne Van Wyk, Alviro Petersen, Nicky Boje, Andrew Puttick, Thandi Tshabalala, Loots Bosman, Llyod Norris Jones, Zander de Bruyn, Monde Zondeki, Garnett Kruger, Roger Telemachus, Jonty Rhodes, Makhaya Ntini, Justin Kemp. West Indies Legends: Brian Lara, Dinanath Ramnarine, Adam Sanford, Carl Hooper, Dwayne Smith, Ryan Austin, William Perkins, Mahendra Nagamootoo, Pedro Collins, Ridley Jacobs, Narsingh Deonarine, Tino Best, Sulieman Benn. England Legends: Kevin Pietersen, Owais Shah, Philip Mustard, Monty Panesar, Nick Compton, Kabir Ali, Usman Afzaal, Matthew Hoggard, James Tindall, Chris Tremlett, Sajid Mahmood, James Tredwell, Chris Schoefield, Johnathan Trott, Ryan Sidebottom.