Legends League Cricket
The Legends League Cricket or LLC, is a Global Cricket League where recently retired Cricketers played competitive Cricket.[1] Branded as Howzat Legends League Cricket for sponsorship reasons,[2] it is a 20-over cricket League, which features former international cricketers and is organized by Absolute Legends Sports Pvt. Ltd.[3] The 1st season was held at the Oman Cricket Academy Ground, Muscat from 20 January 2022, with the final on 29 January. It was contested by three teams, representing India, rest of Asia and the rest of the world.[4][5] Former Indian cricketer, Ravi Shastri is the Commissioner of the series.[6] The league roped in one of the biggest names from Bollywood, legendary Amitabh Bachchan as the Brand Ambassador of the League.[7]
 | |
| Dates | 20 January 2022 – 29 January 2022 |
|---|---|
| Administrator(s) | Absolute Legends Sports Pvt. Ltd. |
| Cricket format | 20-over |
| Tournament format(s) | Round robin and Final |
| Host(s) | Oman |
| Champions | World Giants (1st title) |
| Runners-up | Asia Lions |
| Participants | 3 |
| Matches | 7 |
| Player of the series | Morne Morkel |
| Most runs | Naman Ojha (259) |
| Most wickets | Nuwan Kulasekara (8) |
| Official website | llct20 |
Background
Owned by Absolute Legends Sports Pvt Ltd, the Legends League Cricket is founded by Raman Raheja & Vivek Khushalani.[8] In November 2021, Ravi Shastri joined the League as its Commissioner, immediately after his retirement as the Head Coach of the Indian National Cricket team.[9] Another legend Wasim Akram is also associated with LLC as a member of the Apex Council along with Ravi Shastri.[10] The season 1 of the league was hosted under the aegis of Oman Cricket at Oman Cricket Academy Ground[11][12] The first edition of the League hosted in Oman with top Legends like Virender Sehwag (India Maharajas),[13] Misbah ul Haq (Asia Lions), and Darren Sammy (World Giants) were chosen to be the captains of their respective teams.[14]
To ensure competitive cricket amongst the recently retired cricketers, Legends League Cricket roped in Andrew Leipus as the Director Sports science. He is instrumental in working on the fitness and physical performance of the Cricketers.[15]
The League had many Cricket legends like Brett Lee, Shoaib Akhtar, Muttiah Muralitharan, Kevin Pietersen, Irfan Pathan, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Mohammad Kaif, Sanath Jayasuriya, Mohammad Yousuf amongst others playing against each other thereby reigniting the famous rivalries.[16] Infact Shahid Afridi, Yuvraj Singh and Harbhajan Singh were also to play in the league but due to Covid situation and other personal reasons, they could not make it to Oman.
The League launched a special initiative towards Women's empowerment in Cricket whereby first time in the history of Men's Cricket, an all Women Match Officials team adjudicated the entire Season 1.[17] The League also signed up legendary Woman Cricketer Jhulan Goswami as the brand ambassador for the Women Empowerment initiative.[18]
The League was broadcast on leading Sports Television Networks with Sony Pictures Sports Network and Sony Liv having the rights for Indian territory.[19] The Pakistan TV rights were acquired by Geo Sports. In Sri Lanka, Supreme TV acquired the rights for the territory. Global Audio & Video streaming rights were acquired by Crictracker.[20]
Squads
| India Maharajas | Asia Lions | World Giants |
|---|---|---|
|
Although initially, Virender Sehwag was named captain of India Maharajas squad, but missed the matches of the Legends League Cricket as he tested Covid positive before leaving India; so Mohammed Kaif led the team in his absence.[21] Daniel Vettori also missed out due to travel restrictions with 3rd Covid wave. Yuvraj Singh missed out playing the 1st season of LLC as his wife delivered their first child during that time.[22]
The League clashed with the PSL so many cricketers from Pakistan returned back after 1st round of League matches. Kamran Akmal, Mohammad Hafeez, [23] Azhar Mahmood, Umar Gul played the first 2 matches for Asia Lions before returning to 2022 Pakistan Super League. Imran Tahir was only available for first two matches, before leaving World Giants' squad to play in the 2022 Pakistan Super League.[24]
Points table
Each team played the others only twice during the round-robin stage and Top two teams qualified for the final.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | NR | Pts | NRR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | World Giants | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 1.008 |
| 2 | Asia Lions | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 | −0.452 |
| 3 | India Maharajas | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 2 | −0.437 |
Advanced to the Final.
Matches
1st T20
Asia Lions 175/7 (20 overs) |
v |
India Maharajas 179/4 (19.1 overs) |
- India Maharajas won the toss and elected to field.
2nd T20
World Giants 205/7 (20 overs) |
v |
Asia Lions 209/4 (19.2 overs) |
- Asia Lions won the toss and elected to field.
3rd T20
India Maharajas 209/3 (20 overs) |
v |
World Giants 210/7 (19.3 overs) |
- World Giants won the toss and elected to field.
4th T20
Asia Lions 193/4 (20 overs) |
v |
India Maharajas 157/8 (20 overs) |
- India Maharajas won the toss and elected to field.
5th T20
Asia Lions 149/7 (20 overs) |
v |
World Giants 152/3 (13 overs) |
- World Giants won the toss and elected to field.
6th T20
World Giants 228/5 (20 overs) |
v |
India Maharajas 223/7 (20 overs) |
- India Maharajas won the toss and elected to field.
Final
World Giants 256/5 (20 overs) |
v |
Asia Lions 231/8 (20 overs) |
- Asia Lions won the toss and elected to field.
- World Giants became the winners of Legends League Cricket 2022.
Controversies around the league
Before the league started, it had to fight a legal battle over the copyright of the format, namely a tournament involving former star players. The court awarded the judgement in the league's favour, stating that "no one can claim a copyright to the 'game of cricket'".[25]
Global Outreach
As per reports, the 1st season of Legends league Cricket made a global reach to 703 million Cricket fans around the world.[26] As per reports, it has become the most watched International T20 League in India outside of Indian Premier League with more viewership than Big Bash, Caribbean Premier League or Pakistan Super League in India.[27]
References
- "Legends League Cricket launched with Legends of Cricket".
- "Howzat Became the Title Sponsor of Legends League Cricket 2022". Howzat. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
- "Howzat Legends League Cricket". Howzat. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
- "Legends League Cricket 2022: Players, teams, full schedule, live streaming, telecast and more". Times Now. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
- "Legends League Cricket 2022: Squads, Schedule, Live Streaming, and Broadcasting details". Crictracker. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
- "Ravi Shastri gets appointed as Commissioner of Legends League Cricket". Crictracker. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
- "Legendary Amitabh Bachchan roped in as the BRAND Ambassador of LLC". The Economic Times.
- "LLC to be hosted by Oman Cricket in January 2022". Times of India, Times of Oman.
- "Ravi Shastri's next assignment is LLC". Times of India, The Times of India.
- "LLC recreates Shaz & Waz on the sidelines". Khaleej Times.
- "Former Cricket Legends back on the grounds with LLC". The Hindu. 21 January 2022.
- "Legends League Cricket 2022: All You need to know". News 18.
- "Sehwag to lead India Maharajas". 18 January 2022.
- "Sehwag, Misbah & Sammy to lead". 18 January 2022.
- "Andre Leipus roped in as Director Sports Science for LLC". ANI News.
- "Akhtar, Afridi, Jayasuriya named in Asia Lions". 23 December 2021.
- "All Women Officials Team make history at LLC". The Hindu. 27 January 2022.
- "Jhulan Goswami roped in as Brand Amabassador". ANI News.
- "Sony Sports Networks acquires India rights for Legends League Cricket". The Mint.
- "Crictracker acquires global Audio & Video streaming rights for Legends League Cricket". The Mint.
- "Sehwag to miss initial matches of Indian Maharajas, Kaif to lead". The Times of India. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
- "Yuvraj, Hazel welcome their first child". Crictracker.
- "LLC is a wonderful initiative". The Hindu.
- "Legends League Cricket 2022: Imran Tahir to miss remainder of tournament to take part in PSL 2022". Crictracker. Retrieved 24 January 2022.
- "Court refuses to stay Legends League Cricket". Times of India.
- "Legends League Cricket reach 703 Million fans globally". India.com.
- "Legends League Cricket rating and viewership scores over many other international T20 Leagues in the world". Crictracker.