Sachin Tendulkar reveals reasons for choosing USA as venue for T20 series

Dates & venues for the T20 series between sides captained by Warne & Tendulkar have been confirmed

Indian batting legend Sachin Tendulkar expressed his delight following confirmation that the 'Cricket All-Stars Series 2015', featuring sides captained by himself and Australian Shane Warne, will be held in November, NDTV Sports reports.

The idea for an exhibition T20 series featuring former international players was mooted by the pair for the first time in July last year when Sachin and Warne captained the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and Rest of the World sides respectively in a 50-over match that was played to commemorate the 200^th anniversary of the Lord’s cricket ground.

15 exhibition matches are set to be played across a three-and-a-half year period and initial reports had suggested that the first three matches were to be held in September, but it was confirmed yesterday that the matches will take place in November.

Recalling the match in 2014 about how the idea of this series first popped up, Tendulkar expressed joy at how their plans had now reached fruition.

"I'm excited about it (All-Star Series) because this is something that we had been planning for a long time. In last July when we played at Lord's it was Shane Warne's XI vs my XI and had a great time there,” Tendulkar said. “We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and it was a sold out and that when we started thinking why not start something for retired cricketers and travel around the world and globalise the game and get more and more people excited about cricket."

Earlier in the day, Tendulkar had talked about how playing the series in the US would go a long way in helping achieve his dream of seeing cricket become a global sport. Elaborating further on the same, the Little Master said that the considerable Asian population in the country was also a decisive factor in them opting to go ahead with New York, Houston and Los Angeles as the three venues.

"We want to start with America because there are so many Asians, who follow cricket and love cricket, but have no access to watching live cricket in the stadium. But all they can follow cricket is on the internet or watch highlights here and there,” Tendulkar said.

Tendulkar remarked that, for a cricket fan, nothing can beat the thrill of watching match in front of their very eyes.

“But to be able to witness a live match in a stadium, they haven't had the privilege to do it. So we want to go to America and engage more with our fans and get more and more spectators involved," Tendulkar added.