LAHORE: Two legendary cricketers, Sir Vivian Richards and Javed Miandad are set to reunite in October at Pakistan Junior League (PJL) after Pakistan Cricket Board appointed the former as a mentor for one of the teams.
According to the details, PCB named the former West Indian batting legend Richards as a league mentor for the inaugural edition of the sort of its sort U19 T20 League. Richards will join Miandad, Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Malik, Daren Sammy and Imran Tahir as other mentors.
The first-ever PJL tournament will run from October 6 to 21 at the Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore featuring six teams.
Richards has also been an integral part of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) franchise Quetta Gladiators, mentoring the team in six of the league’s seven editions and helping the Gladiators to lift the PSL trophy in 2019.
“I am absolutely thrilled at reuniting with my mate Javed Miandad at the Pakistan Junior League with whom I cherish some great memories from our playing days. Miandad was a fighter and a tough competitor, and it will be lovely to be working alongside him at the Pakistan Junior League, which is an exciting and innovative concept,” said Richards as quoted by PCB.
“During my playing days, I always admired the talent Pakistan produced and this belief strengthened during my time with Quetta Gladiators,” he added.
Regarded as one of the greatest batsmen of all time, Richards was chosen by Wisden as the greatest ODI batsman and as the third greatest Test cricket batter in 2002. He was also voted as one of Wisden’s five Cricketers of the Century in 2000.
Richards was part of the two-time World Cup-winning team of West Indies. He amassed 8540 runs in 121 Tests at an average of above 50, while he scored 6,721 runs in 187 ODIs averaging around 47. He also has 32 Test and 118 ODI wickets to his credit.
“I am really excited at the opportunity of working with Sir Vivian Richards who remains one of the greatest players to play the game,” said Miandad as quoted by PCB. “The Pakistan Junior League is an innovative and exciting concept and provides a great platform to junior players. I am sure that the league will help introduce some incredible future talent that will serve Pakistan cricket for the decades to come.”
“During my stint at the PJL I would endeavour to help youngsters in their quest of improvement in their game as I am a firm believer that with strong basics you can build a solid game that can help you in all formats of the game,” he added.
With their sheer talent and match-winning heroics, Richards and Miandad dominated world cricket in the 1970s and 80s. They last faced off in the Nehru Cup final in Kolkata on November 1, 1989, where Pakistan beat West Indies by four wickets with one ball left.
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