Dhoni to Play, Kohli vs Sharma: CEO Raman Raheja Reveals Big Future Plans
MS Dhoni, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli (Twitter)
After two successful runs, Legends League Cricket (LLC) is all set to begin its third edition in Qatar from 10 March at the Asia Town Cricket Stadium in Doha. It is the second most followed league in the entire world after the Indian Premier League and promises to introduce some of the biggest players of the sport for the upcoming season, including MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli and even Rohit Sharma.
In an exclusive piece with Hindustan Times, LLC CEO Raman Raheja revealed the leagues big plans and ideas for this season, the big MS Dhoni plan for the future, and how they aim to compete with other established top leagues in the world.
When asked about the concept of the league and how it is different from the existing leagues he expressed how cricket is religiously followed by numerous people in the world and that the league aims to act as a second innings for the players.
"A similar concept was tried in 2015 by Shane Warne and Sachin Tendulkar. The core difference is that we have been able to create a tournament where cricketers are similarly aged and have almost the same fitness so that there is good quality cricket," Raheja was quoted in the interview.
Regarding the future of the franchise Raheja talked about how they aim to create more events and improving the player pool with the best of the legends.
"In terms of the franchise model, we will add two more teams. We are also looking to create more events, maybe not like the franchise model which is kind of a three-weeks event, but more on the grounds of bilateral series comprising these legends.
"For that, the player pool needs to be really good. My future plan is to position this as a second innings for players. And I would love to have MS Dhoni come and play sometime. Or may, all we know, five years later we have a Kohli vs Rohit take place."
Amidst all the matches and with the upcoming IPL season, cricket fans will be able to watch the legends take over the field at the LLC 2023 from March 10 to March 23.