Legends League Cricket: Shane Watson and Daniel Vettori replace Herschelle Gibbs and Sanath Jayasuriya in World Giants squad for special match

Herschelle Gibbs and Sanath Jayasuriya have been replaced by Shane Watson and Daniel Vettori in the World Giants squad for the Legends League Cricket (LLC) special match against India Maharajas on September 16 at Eden Gardens, Kolkata.

On Friday (August 12), the organizers of the LLC revealed that a special game would be played between India Maharajas and the World Giants ahead of the start of the tournament. They even released the names of the players who would feature in the match.

On Saturday (August 13), through an official statement, the organizers confirmed a couple of changes to the World Giants squad. The statement read:

"Legends League Cricket has decided to replace Herschelle Gibbs and Sanath Jayasuriya in the World Giant squad for the special match.”

While the India Maharajas will be led by former captain and current BCCI president Sourav Ganguly, the World Giants will be captained by former England white-ball skipper Eoin Morgan. An official release about the special match stated:

"Players from across 10 foreign countries will be participating in this match. The league will commence the next day, September 17, 2022, wherein 4 teams in franchise format will be competing in the Legends League Cricket Franchise format. Overall 15 matches will be played in this season.”

The India Maharajas squad features the likes of Virender Sehwag, Mohammad Kaif, Irfan Pathan, S Sreesanth and Harbhajan Singh. On the other hand, Jacques Kallis, Jonty Rhodes, Muttiah Muralitharan, Dale Steyn and Brett Lee are some of the most prominent names in the World Giants squad.

The LLC release also stated that this year’s edition is to be dedicated to the 75th year celebration of Indian Independence.

Ravi Shastri, commissioner, Legends League Cricket said about the same:

"This is a proud moment for us that we are celebrating the 75th year of our independence. As a proud Indian, it gives me immense satisfaction to share that we have decided to dedicate this year's league to the 75th year of Independence celebration."

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Squads for India Maharajas vs World Giants match

India Maharajas: Sourav Ganguly (c), Virender Sehwag, Mohammad Kaif, Yusuf Pathan, S Badrinath, Irfan Pathan, Parthiv Patel, Stuart Binny, S Sreesanth, Harbhajan Singh, Naman Ojha, Ashoke Dinda, Pragyan Ojha, Ajay Jadeja, RP Singh, Joginder Sharma.

World Giants: Eoin Morgan (c), Lendl Simmons, Shane Watson, Jacques Kallis, Daniel Vettori, Matt Prior, Nathan McCullum, Jonty Rhodes, Muttiah Muralitharan, Dale Steyn, Hamilton Masakadza, Mashrafe Mortaza, Asghar Afghan, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, Kevin O'Brien, Denesh Ramdin.