The draft for much anticipated international Legend 90 Cricket League was unveiled in a grand ceremony at Mayfair Resorts, Nava Raipur.

The tournament is set to take place at Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Cricket Stadium in Raipur from February 6 to 18. After a successful season in Kandy, Sri Lanka, India has earned the privilege of hosting this mega league.

The event will feature an impressive lineup of national and international cricket stars including Chris Gayle, David Warner, Harbhajan Singh, Shikhar Dhawan, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Matthew Wade, Moeen Ali, Aaron Finch, Thisara Perera, Robin Uthappa, Dinesh Karthik, Shaun Marsh, Martin Guptill, Kedar Jadhav, Ben Dunk and Daniel Christian.

Seven teams , Big Boss, Dubai Giants, Delhi Royals, Rajasthan King, Haryana Gladiators, Gujarat Samprami and Chhattisgarh Warriors will compete for the championship.

The Chhattisgarh Warriors, representing the host state feature prominent players like Suresh Raina, Martin Guptill, Ambati Rayudu, and Pawan Negi. Additionally, local players from Chhattisgarh including Vishal Kushwaha, Amit Mishra, Kaleem Khan, Pankaj Rao, Jatin Saxena and Manoj Singh will showcase their talent.

CEO of the league Tarunesh Singh Parihar highlighted that top players like Suresh Raina, Shikhar Dhawan, Dwayne Bravo, Harbhajan Singh, Chris Gayle, Yusuf Pathan, Corey Anderson, Moeen Ali and Tilakaratne Dilshan are among the most expensive picks this season. Adding to the excitement, the league’s opening ceremony will feature performances by Bollywood actress Tamannah Bhatia, Huma Qureshi, Aayushman Khurana along with singers like Sonu Nigam and Hardy Sandhu. Efforts are underway to keep ticket prices affordable, ensuring the event is accessible to the local audience and cricket fans from Raipur.

Legend 90 League 2025 Squads:

Haryana Gladiators: Ishank Jaggi, Imran Khan, Abu Nechim, Rikki Clarke, Manan Sharma, Chadwick Walton, Peter Trego, Praveen, Anureet Singh, Pawan Suyal, Asela Gunaratne, Ben Dunk, Harbhajan Singh

Chhattisgarh Warriors: Martin Guptill, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Siddharth Kaul, Pawan Negi,  Sheldon Jackson, Kevon Cooper, Vishal Kushwah, Abhishek Sakuja, Amit Verma, Amit Mishra, Rishi Dhawan, Kalim Khan, Unmukt Chand, Manoj Singh, Abhimanyu Mithun, Colin de Grandhomme

Big Boys: Chris Gayle, Matt Prior, Shannon Gabriel, Ishan Malhotra, Varun Aaron, Monu Kumar, Neil Broom, Karanveer Singh, Chirag Gandhi, Robin Bist, Vinod Chanwariya, Upul Tharanga, Tamim Iqbal, Naman Sharma, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Kapil Rana, Hershelle Gibbs, Abdur Razzak

Rajasthan Kings: Dwayne Bravo, Ankit Rajpoot, Phil Mustard, Faiz Fazal, Shadab Jakati, Jaskaran Malhotra, Imran Tahir, Jaykishan Kolsawala, Rajesh Bishnoi, Coray Anderson, Samiullah Shinwari, Rajat Singh, Ashley Nurse, Dawlat Zadran, Manpreet Gony.

Delhi Royals: Shikhar Dhawan, Lendl Simmons, Angelo Perera, Bipul Sharma, Rayad Emrit, Ross Taylor, Danusha Gunathilaka, Sharad Lumba, Lakhwinder Singh, Rajwinder Singh, Jerome Taylor, Denesh Ramdin, Sumit Narwal, Parvinder Awana.

Dubai Giants: Shakib Al Hasan, Seekuge Prasanna, Thisara Perera, Siddharth Trivedi, Kevin O’Brien, Luke Fletcher, Brendon Taylor, Rahul Yadav, Kichard Levi, Kennar Lewis, Hamilton Masakadza, Liam Plunkett, Dwayne Smith, Christopher Mpofu

Gujarat Samp Army: Yusuf Pathan, Moeen Ali, Obus Pienaar, Saurabh Tiwary, Kesrick Williams, Jesal Karia, Navin Stewart, Abhishek Jhunjhunwala, William Perkins, Mausif Khan, Chaturanga de Silva, Shapoor Zadran, Chandrapaul Hemraj, Miguel Cummins.

The legendary Sunil Gavaskar is in awe of Jasprit Bumrah’s leadership qualities and reckons the peerless fast bowler will succeed Rohit Sharma as the next captain of the Indian team following his extraordinary display in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

Bumrah recently produced one of the best-ever bowling performances by an overseas pacer in Australia and picked 32 wickets over five Tests.

He was also captain during India’s only victory in the series, helping the visitors to a convincing win at the Optus Stadium in Perth in the opener.

“He could be the next man. I think he will be the next man. Because he leads from the front, he has got a very good air about him, the air of a leader but not somebody who is going to pressure on you,” Gavaskar aired his views on Channel 7.

The batting great added, “Sometimes, you have captains who put a lot of pressure on you. With Bumrah you can see that, he expects the others to do what their job is, why they are in the national team, but it doesn’t seem to pressurise anybody.”

Bumrah has been spearheading the Indian pace attack for some years now and his guidance has helped the likes of Mohammed Siraj to grow as a fast bowler.

“With the fast bowlers, he has been absolutely brilliant, standing at mid-off, mid-on and every time just being at hand to tell them. I think he was absolutely brilliant and I won’t be surprised if he takes over very soon.”

Bumrah took his wickets at an incredible average of 13.06 and an even better strike rate of 28.37 before pulling up injured midway through Australia’s first innings at the SCG in the final Test.

In Bumrah’s absence, the home team chased down 162 on the third day to win the series 3-1.

The lead pacer was handed the captaincy in the final Test after the out-of-form Rohit Sharma “opted out” but a back spasm prevented Bumrah from bowling on the crucial third day.

Bumrah destroyed Australia in Perth with eight wickets, grabbed six wickets in the first innings at the Gabba, and nearly turned the Boxing Day Test on its head with his exploits on the fourth afternoon at MCG.

In the series decider at SCG, Bumrah sent back Usman Khawaja and Marnus Labuschagne early in Australia’s first innings but could only bowl one over after lunch on the second day when the game was evenly poised.

The Indian pacer was named the Player of the Series for his unforgettable performance.

Virat Kohli will be “super motivated” to put a struggling phase behind him and the premier India batter is capable of returning to his run-making ways, said former South African captain Faf du Plessis here on Wednesday.

Kohli had a torrid time in Australia during the recent Border-Gavaskar Trophy, amassing a mere 190 runs at an average of 23.75 across five Tests despite starting off with an unbeaten hundred in the first Test at Perth.

Du Plessis backed Kohli, his one-time teammate at Royal Challengers Bangalore, to come back stronger from the struggles, and said retirement is a “very personal” choice.

“That is very, very personal. No one can speak to you about when that time is (up) as a player, you’ll know,” du Plessis told PTI on the sidelines of the SA20 Season 3’s Captain’s Day.

“I know someone like him is super super motivated, he’s gone through it all before, so he knows exactly what to do,” said Du Plessis.

The 40-year-old then went back to the day when he felt his time was up as a Test cricketer.

“It is different for every player. Every player needs to answer that question. I remember when that time was for me,” he said.

“I just knew that certainly from the Test cricket perspective for me. I didn’t have that same hunger and drive anymore and I felt that that stage certainly for me was a good time to let new guys come in and also step into the T20 world.

“I wanted to do that at the stage where I still felt like I was on top of my game,” he added.

Du Plessis was not pleased with ICC reportedly exploring the possibility of a two-tier Test system.

“No, I think we need the game to be healthy,” Du Plessis said.

“We saw over the last few years the value that was put on Test cricket by Australia, England and India making sure that there were 4-5 Test series.

“When you look at the other teams, there are two Test matches here and there and playing six Test matches a season. I do not think that is healthy for the game,” he offered.

“As long as we can look at Test cricket as (being) important, you just look at all the Test matches that took place over the last few weeks, some incredible matches have been played,” Du Plessis noted.