MUMBAI: To help victims of the Tsunami natural disaster the International Cricket Council (ICC) will organise a World Cricket Tsunami Appeal fund-raising game at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on 10 January.
In India the match will air on Max from 8:40 am.
Sony CEO Kunal Dasgupta said, "We are privileged to be able to play our part by airing this extremely important and crucial One-Day match on Max. This will be one of the many initiatives that Set India is taking up toward helping victims of the recent Tsunami havoc in South East Asia."
ICC president Ehsan Mani said, ''Max is a valued broadcast partner of the ICC. It is pleasing that it has agreed to broadcast this important match at very short notice in the region directly affected by this disaster. I hope that this match will help us to raise valuable funds to help the relief effort."
Sony has also come up with a series of Public Service Announcements urging viewers to contribute to help Tsunami victims. Sony's employees are donating a day's salary along with other essentials and necessities towards relief.
Returning to the cricket the 50-over one day match will see an ICC World XI taking on an Asia Cricket Council XI. The teams will be led by Australian captain Ricky Ponting and India's skipper Saurav Ganguly.
The Asia team includes Sri Lanka's explosive opener Sanath Jayasuriya, Rahul Dravid and spin wiz Muttiah Muralitharan. They take on a World X1 which includes another spin wiz Shane Warne, the only man to score 400 in one innings West Indian Brian Lara and Darren Gough. The team will also be managed by former Australia captain Steve Waugh.
Meanwhile the ICC has stated that it sold nearly 20,000 seats in one day. Tickets for the match went on sale a couple of days ago. ICC CEO Malcolm Speed said, "To sell almost 20,000 tickets in half a day is a fantastic result and augers well for creating a strong atmosphere at the fund-raising game on Monday. It is a tremendous reflection of the strength of the international cricket community - fans and organisers - to come together to support the Tsunami Appeal."
Cricket Australia, Cricket Victoria, and the Melbourne Cricket Club, who are organising the match on behalf of the ICC, the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) and the Federation of International Cricketers’ Association, are hoping to fill the 80,000 capacity seat MCG.
