ISLAMABAD: Ace spinner Saeed Ajmal feels privileged for the country and Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) as three of the national players have been invited to the mouth watering encounter between two star studded playing elevens at Lord’s on July 5 to mark the Bicentenary Celebrations of the historic ground.
The MCC team will be led by the recently retired Indian legend Sachin Tendulkar while the Rest of the World XI is captained by his old rival and equally famous Australian leg spinner Shane Warne.
Lord’s completes its 200 year anniversary on June 22 having hosted the first known cricket match back in 1814 between MCC and Hertfordshire and this game between teams featuring some of the top names of today and yesteryear will be a fitting tribute to the Home of Cricket’s stature as a place of reverence for players and fans alike.
The MCC team includes Tendulkar’s former Indian teammate Rahul Dravid, West Indies batting legend Brian Lara, Australian pace bowler Brett Lee as well as Pakistani seam bowler Umar Gul as well as master off spinner Saeed Ajmal.
The Warne-led Rest of the World XI features Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Muttiah Muralitharan, Adam Gilchrist, Kevin Pietersen and Pakistan all rounder Shahid Afridi.
Ajmal said he is honored to have been asked to play in the MCC versus Rest of the World match. It should be a fantastic occasion featuring some of the greatest players in the history of the game.
There are many superstars in both teams and it will be brilliant to play alongside and against some of cricket s legends and biggest names Pakpassion.net quoted Ajmal as saying.
Ajmal who is ranked at number one in ODIs and holds the 3rd and 5th rankings in T20s and Tests, respectively, said it is great news for Pakistan cricket that Shahid, Umar and I have been invited to play at this great occasion.
Lord’s Bicentenary match teams:
MCC: Sachin Tendulkar (Ind, capt), Saeed Ajmal (Pak), Shivnarine Chanderpaul (WI), Rahul Dravid (Ind), Aaron Finch (Aus), Umar Gul (Pak), Brian Lara (WI), Brett Lee (Aus), Chris Read (Eng, wk), Shaun Tait (Aus), Daniel Vettori (NZ).
REST OF THE WORLD: Shane Warne (Aus, capt), Shahid Afridi (Pak), Tino Best (WI), Paul Collingwood (Eng), Adam Gilchrist (Aus, wk), Tamim Iqbal (BD), Muttiah Muralitharan (SL), Kevin Pietersen (Eng), Virender Sehwag (Ind), Peter Siddle (Aus), Yuvraj Singh (Ind).