Pakistan to play Road Safety World Series league for first-time ever

The Road Safety World Series, a T20 league involving some of the biggest names in cricket who have retired, is set to feature the Pakistan team for the first time ever during the third season, which will be played in September this year. As per ESPNCricinfo, the league has been played in India so far, in the 2020-21 and 2022 seasons. But this time around, it will be held in England with approval from the England and Wales Cricket Club.

The dates for the third season are yet to be finalised and it is learnt that the league will be played from early September for at least three weeks. Nine teams will feature in the tournament this time as compared to eight sides in 2022. The first season of the tournament was played across 2020 and 2021, which was split due to COVID-19. The second was played in 2022. Because of strained relations between the governments of India and Pakistan in recent years, no team from Pakistan featured in the tournament's first two seasons.

The first season in March 2020, featured teams from India, Sri Lanka, South Africa, West Indies and Australia but the pandemic cut it short. After the tournament re-started in March 2021 in Raipur, Australia pulled out the event due to COVID-19 travel restrictions and was replaced by Bangladesh and newly-added England. The second season was played in Dehradun and Raipur in September 2022. New Zealand was added in the tournament and Australia returned as well. Both the tournaments saw India Legends team clinching the titles.

The tournament has seen some former ODI and T20 World champions such as Sachin Tendulkar, Kevin Pietersen, Sanath Jayasuriya, Shane Watson, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Yuvraj Singh, along with Brian Lara, Jonty Rhodes, Shane Bond and many others.