Daily Times

LAHORE: The Road Safety World Series, a T20 league involving former international stars, is set to feature a team from Pakistan for the first time, when the third season will be played in September this year. The league has been played in India so far but the coming season will be held in England and it has got the approval from the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). The league started in March 2020 and has had two seasons so far, both in India. The dates for the third season are still being finalised and it is learnt the league will be played from early September for close to three weeks. Nine teams are set to participate in the coming edition of the league as compared to eight last year.

The first season was played across 2020 and 2021, split because of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the second in 2022. But because of strained relations between the governments of India and Pakistan in recent years and the two seasons having being played in India, there was no team from Pakistan until now. The first season — launched in March 2020 — had teams from India, Sri Lanka, South Africa, West Indies and Australia but the competition was cut short after just four games because of the pandemic. When the remaining games resumed in March 2021 in Raipur, Australia pulled out because of Covid-19 related travel restrictions and were replaced by Bangladesh, along with the addition of England.

The second season was played in Dehradun and Raipur in September 2022 and saw an eighth team — New Zealand — join along with the return of Australia. Both editions of the tournament saw the India Legends team beat Sri Lanka Legends in the final in Raipur. The tournament has seen some former ODI and T20 World Cup champions such as Sachin Tendulkar, Kevin Pietersen, Sanath Jayasuriya, Shane Watson, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Yuvraj Singh, along with Brian Lara, Jonty Rhodes, Shane Bond and many others.