Top cricketers for Qatar Celebrity League match

Luminaries of the cricketing world will come together for a Qatar Celebrity Cricket League T20 match on December 20, it has been announced.
Brian Lara (West Indies), Harbhajan Singh (India), Tillakaratne Dilshan (Sri Lanka), Daniel Vettori (New Zealand) and Mohamed Ashraful (Bangladesh) are some of the names who have been confirmed to play the match, according to the organisers.
Qatar Cricket Association (QCA) and QMission have joined hands to organise the match. Besides the above-mentioned players, also confirmed to play in the match is Nafees Iqbal (Bangladesh).
Yesterday, QMission founder and CEO Sheikha Sara Nasser A al-Thani and QCA president Yousef Jeham al-Kuwari gave the details of the upcoming event at a press conference held at the Qatar Olympic Committee headquarters.
The match is part of a campaign to raise awareness about persons with special needs and to recognise the efforts of blue-collar workers in the development of the country, the organisers have stressed.
Speaking on the occasion, Sheikha Sara said: “The match, which is scheduled on December 20, is most likely to be played at Al Gharafa Sports Club. The aim of the match is part of our social responsibility campaign to create more awareness about differently-abled people in Qatar.
“We’ve chosen cricket as this sport is quite popular among blue-collar workers who are engaged in the development of Qatar, especially the 2022 FIFA World Cup stadiums and related projects. So, this match is an appreciation for what they are doing here.
“We spoke to Qatar Cricket Association about it and the association agreed to help us for the social and noble causes involved in the match. Also, in my team, there are lots of people who are very passionate about this sport.”
“The activities on the match day will begin at 3.30pm and end around 10pm. Entry is through tickets, which are being sold at LuLu Hypermarket outlets,” Sheikha Sara added.
On his part, al-Kuwari said: “We are proud to have launched the T10 League at the Asian Town Stadium on Saturday. Lots of famous players are participating in it and the matches are being broadcast internationally for the first time from Qatar in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, South Africa and Australia.
“We hope to build a great atmosphere of cricket in Qatar. We are just trying to push the game so that we have a strong base here. “Now, this Celebrity Cricket League match is about to take place. Players of major cricketing nations like India, Australia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, West Indies, New Zealand and Sri Lanka are coming to take part.”
“It will be followed by an international women’s event in which four international teams – China, Oman, Kuwait and hosts Qatar - are going to compete from January 16,” al-Kuwari added.
Sheikha Sara added, “Anybody (above 21 years of age) from Qatar can be part of the match. They can join the team through the selection process. The match will be telecast internationally and hopefully it will send out a good image of Qatar.”
The first round of the selection is over, while the final screening will be done on December 13. The legends and Qatar national team players will be mixed with other local cricketers and two teams – Team Hope and Team Challengers – will play the match. Legendary umpires Simon Taufel (Australia) and Billy Bowden |(New Zealand) will officiate the match, while Tom Moody and Charlotte Edwards will do the live commentary.