4 Reasons Why The Exhibition Match Between Former And Present India Cricketers Could Take Place

Former India allrounder Irfan Pathan recently  came up with an exciting idea about giving fitting farewells to some of Indian cricket’s greatest heroes. Recently, MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina also announced their retirement from international cricket.

Since the duo’s retirement, the fans as well as several past and present cricketers have been urging the BCCI to organise a farewell game for the two. Amidst all these, Irfan Pathan took to Twitter to reveal his idea. He revealed a playing XI of the retired cricketers – Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni, Irfan Pathan, Ajit Agarkar, Zaheer Khan, Prgayan Ojha and proposed the idea of an exhibition match between former and present Indian cricketers.

“Many people are talking about a farewell game for retired players who didn’t get a proper send-off from the game. How about a charity cum farewell game from a team consisting of retired players vs the current Indian team?,” Irfan Pathan tweeted.

All eyes are now on the BCCI. And while only time will tell whether the exhibition game becomes a reality or not, we take a look at four reasons why the BCCI could give the game the green light.

4. Resumption of cricket at home:

Since March, no competitive game has taken place in India because of the coronavirus pandemic. And the way things are at the moment, it won’t be very surprising if cricket does not return soon in the country. The cases are rising at an alarming rate and it is safe to say that it will take some time before cricket starts at home.

BCCI president Sourav Ganguly has already told the state associations that resumption of domestic cricket will depend on how the conditions are. At the same time, he also confirmed that India will welcome England in February 2021. And while that series will mark the resumption of international cricket at home, the BCCI can definitely gamble on starting the home season with the exhibition game between former and current India stars.

With the spirit of Indian cricket fraternity at an all time low because of the pandemic, the exhibition game could definitely raise the spirits and set the tone for the remainder of the home season.

3. End of an era:

MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina were the oldest members in the Indian team. While Dhoni had made his debut in 2004, Raina had played his first game for India in 2005. With their retirement, one can say that an era has finally come to an end.

The players of that era have given Indian cricket uncountable moments to cherish and the fans would just love to see them playing on the field one more time and perhaps one last time. In fact, not only fans in India but from around the world would love to see the likes of Gambhir, Dravid, Laxman, Sehwag and other legends taking the field again.

2. Inauguration of Motera Stadium:

This is one factor that could play a big role in convincing BCCI to conduct the exhibition match. The BCCI must be desperate to host the first game at the 110,000-seater Sardar Patel Stadium in Ahmedabad, popularly known as Motera Stadium.

The renovated stadium hosted US President Donald Trump last year but is yet to host a cricket match. The BCCI had planned a T20I match between Asia XI and World XI last summer to inaugurate the stadium but it did not happen because the stadium’s construction took longer than expected to be completed.

Later, it was also rumoured to be in line to host the final of this year’s IPL before the world came to a standstill. The stadium is now ready to host cricket matches and the BCCI has the option to do it in a grand manner by conducting the exhibition game.

1. A fitting farewell for the deserving heroes:

This is likely to be the biggest reason that might make BCCI give the go ahead for the game. In the last 10 years, a number of Indian cricket’s greatest heroes have walked away without any sort of farewell.

The likes of Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan and most recently Suresh Raina and MS Dhoni retired from the game without getting the farewell they deserve. The exhibition match gives the Indian cricket board the opportunity to give the legends a deserving farewell.