MUMBAI: Star India has snapped up the broadcast rights of the much awaited venture of Sachin Tendulkar and Shane Warne namely The Cricket All-Stars T20 tournament, featuring cricket legends from across the globe.
Confirming the development to Indiantelevision.com a source close to the development said, "The rights are with Star and we all are looking forward to the tournament."
While Master Card has been roped in as the title sponsor of the tournament, negotiations are on with a few more brand. The source adds, "We are in the last phase of proceedings and will soon reveal many more developments.”
The Cricket All-Stars T20 tournament is set to unfold on 7 November, 2015 in New York. The tourney will then move to Houston on 11 November and to Los Angeles on 14 November.
Virender Sehwag, who recently retired, has also joined the roster, which has former Indian greats like Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman and Ajit Agarkar. While Warne confirmed his participation in the tournament a few days back, the master blaster Tendulkar was also spotted sweating it out in the nets yet again. Some of the others former cricketers who are a part of the league are Kumar Sangakkara, Jonthy Rhodes, Wasim Akram, Glen Mcgrath and Ricky Ponting.
His recent tweets read :
Had fun at the nets today. #ComingToAmerica, see you in New York in 10 days.. #CricketAllStars2015 @T20AllStars
Had fun at the nets today. #ComingToAmerica, see you in New York in 10 days.. #CricketAllStars2015 @T20AllStars pic.twitter.com/YJR47Oe7V8
— sachin tendulkar (@sachin_rt) October 27, 2015
Welcoming Sehwag and beginning the countdown, Telndulkar tweeted: Welcome my friend and a batsman with distinct style ...................... #10daystogo
Warm welcome to my friend & a batsman with his distinct style! @virendersehwag joins us at @T20AllStars #10DaystoGo pic.twitter.com/qL1OsaKyej
— sachin tendulkar (@sachin_rt) October 27, 2015
Senior cricket expert Hemant Kenkre said, "It's a delightful opportunity for the average American cricket fans to see the legends playing in front of them. The initiative is nice. I remember something similar was done in Brabourne Stadium long back. From cricket's perspective, it remains to be seen how fit the players are, it’s been long since many of them retired and no one knows how much cricket they have been playing. But overall Wasim Akram bowling to Lara or Sachin facing Warne again would be a worthy sight for cricket lovers."
A sports media planning veteran added, "Sachin, Sourav, Sehwag, Warne in one pitch again can take viewership to a different level, recently we saw in Wankhede how the entire stadium was chanting Sachinnnnn! Sachinnnnnn! Having said that, the matches are to be played in America so the timing will be an issue for the Indian audience. Moreover, how competitive the matches are, will be another factor to look at. Overall the first three matches will be an experiment and the quality of those will determine the future."
