Herschelle Gibbs, the former South Africa opener, has been replaced by Australia’s Shane Watson in the World Giant team for the upcoming Legends League Cricket 2022 edition.
Former India captain and current BCCI president, Sourav Ganguly, will lead the India Maharajas in an exhibition match against a World Giants team, to be led by former England skipper Eoin Morgan, on September 16. This match, which will be held at the Eden Gardens, is part of the LLC tournament, which is a private competition organised by Absolute Legends Sports.
Players from across 10 foreign countries will be participating in this match. With Morgan, in his World Giants team are former South Africa greats Jacques Kallis, Jonty Rhodes, Dale Steyn, Sri Lanka’s Sanath Jayasuriya and Muthiah Muralidaran and Brett Lee and Mitchell Johnson are the two Australians in the 17-member squad.
Coming to Herschelle Gibbs, when the squads were announced there was a furore among Indian fans seeing Gibbs’ name because the former opener had participated in the Kashmir Premier League earlier last year which was backed by the Pakistan government and endorsed by Shahid Afridi.
Seeing this, the LLC has removed Gibbs from the competition and added Shane Watson in the World Giants squad.
Here are some of the angry reactions of fans regarding Herschelle Gibbs:
@SGanguly99 – Sorry to say You are a shameless person and a person of double standards and a hypocrite of the highest level by allowing Herschelle Gibbs to participate in the match next month.Kindly show your muscle power in this case.
I had respect for you a captain.— Shishir Iyengar (@shishir271) August 12, 2022
So Herschelle Gibbs has been invited to play for India’s 75th Independence special match. The same guy who played in the Pakistani government backed separatist Kashmir Premier League. pic.twitter.com/0vJigoyRNQ
— Arnab Ray (@greatbong) August 12, 2022
@BCCI had vowed to ban Herschelle Gibbs from playing any sort of cricket in India because he had participated in Kashmir Premier League 2021 and gave statements against @BCCI. How did they include him in ROW now?
— Vassant Kudchadkar (@iVassant) August 12, 2022
Why was Herschelle Gibbs included who made so many false allegations to @BCCI and joined Kashmir Premier League which was a political conspiracy against India #BCCI should immediately remove him from the team we are against as fan @SGanguly99 @JayShah @mufaddal_vohra
— Surya (@GoluTheroy) August 12, 2022
South Africa’s Herschelle Gibbs named in World Giants’ squad to face India Maharajas at Kolkata next month. Gibbs was part of the Kashmir Premier League last season and had accused the BCCI of pressuring him to not play in the KPL.
— Farid Khan
(@_FaridKhan) August 12, 2022
(@_FaridKhan) Herschelle Gibbs ko toh India mein cricket khelne se ban kiya thha na… Kashmir Premier League ko leke panga hua thha BCCI ke saath iska
— Rushil (@rushilthefirst) August 12, 2022
Herschelle gibbs hi na tha jo kpl me participate kiya tha. Jisko bcci ne india me koi cricket related kaam nahi milne ka threat diya tha . ??
— Ayush Raj (@choubeysandeep0) August 12, 2022
Wasn’t Herschelle Gibbs the one who wanted to play in Kashmir league and openly revolted against BCCI?
— Raj (@justwondered1) August 12, 2022
This game on September 16 is the curtain-raiser for the LLC second season, which also commemorates India’s 75th year of independence.
“This is a proud moment for us that we are celebrating the 75th year of our independence,” Ravi Shastri, the LLC commissioner, said in a statement.
“As a proud Indian, it gives me immense satisfaction to share that we have decided to dedicate this year’s league to the 75th year of Independence celebration,” the former India head coach added.
The Indian squad includes some big names such as Virender Sehwag, Mohammad Kaif, Harbhajan Singh, Irfan Pathan and Parthiv Patel
The first season of the LLC took place in January earlier this year in Oman, with three teams – Maharajas, Giants and Asia Lions – taking part. The Giants won the tournament defeating Lions in the final. The second season will feature 4 teams, and 15 matches in total.
Two of the squads have been named for LLC season 2:
India Maharajas: Sourav Ganguly (capt), Virender Sehwag, Mohammad Kaif, Yusuf Pathan, S Badrinath, Irfan Pathan, Parthiv Patel (wk), Stuart Binny, Sreesanth, Harbhajan Singh, Naman Ojha (wk), Ashok Dinda, Pragyan Ojha, Ajay Jadeja, RP Singh, Joginder Sharma, Reetinder Singh Sodhi
World Giants: Eoin Morgan (capt), Lendl Simmons, Herschelle Gibbs, Jacques Kallis, Sanath Jayasuriya, Matt Prior (wk), Nathan McCullum, Jonty Rhodes, Muthiah Muralidaran, Dale Steyn, Hamilton Masakadza, Mashrafe Mortaza, Asghar Afghan, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, Kevin O’Brien, Denesh Ramdin (wk)
