Sachin Tendulkar, Courtney Walsh join Shane Warne and Ricky Ponting for bushfire relief match

In a brilliant gesture, legendary cricketers Sachin Tendulkar and Courtney Walsh have decided to take part in next month’s Bushfire Cricket Bash. The match is one of the initiatives from Cricket Australia to help the victims of the bushfire that recently engulfed the major part of the country. Former Australia cricketers Ricky Ponting and Shane Warne will lead the teams that will feature a host of retired Aussie legends.

The much-awaited charity match will serve as a curtain-raiser to the ongoing Big Bash League final on 8 February. Legends like the former opener and current coach Justin Langer, Adam Gilchrist, Brett Lee, Michael Clarke, Shane Watson, and Alex Blackwell will also participate. The match will be one of a troika of marquee fixtures on the day with a women’s T20I between Australia and India to kick off the action in Melbourne.

Legends to coach the teams

While the fans would have loved to see Sachin Tendulkar and Courtney Walsh play in the match, both of them have decided to coach the teams. Walsh, who is the first player in Test history to claim 500 wickets, will coach the Warne-led side. On the other hand, Tendulkar, who is the highest run-scorer in international cricket, will link up with the Ponting-led side.

“We are absolutely honoured to be welcoming Sachin and Courtney back to Australia where they both enjoyed a lot of success as players, and we can’t wait to have them involved in what is going to be a special day,” Cricket Australia chief Kevin Roberts was quoted as saying by Foxsports.

“Both in the ICC Hall of Fame, Sachin is the greatest run-scorer of all time in international cricket, and we all remember what Courtney could do with the ball, taking more than 500 Test wickets. We’re looking forward to our people at CA and the entire Australian cricket family coming together for the Big Appeal,” he added.

Tendulkar ended his career as the most decorated batsman in the history of the game. He finished as the top run-scorer in both Tests and ODIs. He scored 18,426 ODI runs at 44.83 and 15,921 Test runs at 52.78. Tendulkar also has the most number of centuries in both formats. On the other hand, Walsh took 519 Test wickets at 24.44 and 227 in the ODI arena at 30.47.