The Hindu : Sport : ICL World Series from today

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ICL World Series from today

Principal Correspondent

Batsman will have three chances in the match to appeal to the third umpire
Total prize money of Rs. 3.24 crore on offer

HYDERABAD: The inaugural edition of the Indian Cricket League’s 20s World Series — featuring Indian XI, World XI and Pakistan XI — will commence at the floodlit Lal Bahadur Stadium here on Wednesday, according to Kiran More, executive board member, ICL.

The tournament will also have a novelty in that the batsman can appeal the umpire’s decision. “The batsman will have three chances in the match to appeal to the third umpire against the field umpire’s decision,” said More.

“We are trying our best to make the tri-series more spectator-friendly in view of the tremendous response we got,” he added.

More said that of the total prize money of Rs. 3.24 crore, the winner would get Rs. 1.25 crore, runner-up Rs. 75 lakh and the third-placed team Rs. 50 lakh. There are incentives for each match too, the winner picking up Rs. 10 lakh in the league phase and the Man-of-the- match Rs. 2 lakh.

Inzamam-ul-Haq, Pakistan XI captain, said that the team composition would make the event more tough as there were plenty of youngsters to throw up huge challenges. “Having lost in the Edelweiss 20s Challenge, we hope to win the tri-series,” he said. “In the Twenty20 format, there cannot be any favourite or weak team. This was evident during the just-concluded edition where despite Lahore Badshahs entering the final with an unbeaten streak suffered a 2-0 loss to Hyderabad Heroes. A couple of brilliant performances can change the script,” the former Pakistan captain said.

Chris Cairns, captain of the World XI, said since he had the whole world to choose from, his team should look stronger. “It is a wonderful concept and we are determined to give off our best,” he said.

Indian XI captain R. Sathish said that it was a huge honour to lead an Indian XI in such a big event. “We are not worried about the lack of experience. The young players are ready for any challenge,” said.

The teams (from): World XI: Chris Cairns (capt.), Mathew Elliot, Andrew Hall, Daryl Tuffey, Lou Vincent, Marvan Atapattu, Russel Arnold, Damien Martyn, Michael Kasprowicz, Upul Chandana, Chris Harris, Johan van der Wath, Ian Harvey and Jimmy Maher. Coach: John Emburey.

India XI: R. Sathish (capt.), Abhishek Jhunjhunwala, Ambati Rayudu, G. Vignesh, Abbas Ali, Rohan Gavaskar, Ravi Raj Patil, Stuart Binny, V. Sarvanan, Syed Mohammed, T.P. Singh, Ali Murtuza, Abu Nachiem, Thiru Kumaran, Love Ablish, Ibrahim Khaleel (wk) and T. Sudhindra. Coach: Steve Rixon.

Pakistan XI: Inzamam-ul-Haq (capt.), Azhar Mahmood, Taufiq Umar, Imran Farhat, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, Abdul Razzaq, Naveed Latif, Humayan Farhat, Arshad Khan, Shahid Nazir, Hasan Raza, Mohammad Sami, Imran Nazir, Riaz Afridi and Shabbir Ahmed. Coach: Moin Khan.

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