Yesteryear cricket stars will be strutting their stuff at the Asian Town International Cricket Stadium in Doha from Friday (March 10) for 10 days (till March 20) with The Legends League Cricket (LLC) coming to Qatar.
Having created a buzz and set a trend with its inaugural edition in Muscat in January 2022, LLC will be pitching its tent in Qatar with more than 50 legendary former stars playing for three teams – India Maharajas, Asia Lions and World Giants – and vying for top honours. Some of these names include Pakistan’s Shahid Afridi and Shoaib Akhtar, Australia’s Aaron Finch, Shane Watson and Brett Lee, South Africa’s Jacques Kallis and Hashim Amla, England’s Paul Collingwood and Monty Panesar, Sri Lanka’s Tillakaratne Dilshan and Dilhara Fernando, India’s Gautam Gambhir, Harbhajan Singh and S Sreesanth, and West Indies’ Chris Gayle.
Qatar Tribune spoke to Raman Raheja, Co-founder and CEO of Legends League Cricket, on his aspirations from the tournament in Qatar and LLC’s overall future growth.
Excerpts
On LLC’s growing popularity
Very clearly we have grown quite a lot, I would still not like to call it exponential but the numbers have greatly improved since the first edition in 2022 in Muscat in the last 15 months.
Today, we are second most watched T20 league in India and that is our market we target, and Indians are the ones who drive the cricket economy. We are glad that they are watching Legends League Cricket and consuming cricket, that helps us build the product which is viable and which will stand on its own feet as we go forward.
Essentially today LLC is a brand which has very clearly become a second innings for players who see themselves moving away from active international cricket. It is a natural progressive choice, so you have the likes of Aaron Finch, Robin Uthappa, Suresh Raina.. we can go on naming them.
On being in Qatar
Basically, what is happening in Doha is a historic moment for LLC. We have as many as 50 legends of the game of cricket playing together in one city! Mind you, this hasn’t happened in cricket before. They all playing in the same place at the same time. You have world tournaments matches are played in multiple cities, similarly the Indian Premier League (IPL). But here they will be playing in the same city. That’s a first and we are glad to have pulled it off and brought all these legendary players together to perform in Doha.
In fact, I was just talking to Shoaib Akhtar of the Asia Lions team and he was saying, ‘It’s delightful to meet all old mates off the field and who will be foes again on the field’.
So they all are already loving it here in Doha. I’m sure when they take to the field they will show why they have been legends. I’m sure the fans would love the contests.
On LLC emulating FIFA World Cup in Qatar
It’s quite humbling to hear that. There can be no such comparison but yes in some way we are doing that. Honestly, we are glad that we have made a good start and we will only improve further.
On having Qatar Airways and Qatar Tourism as partners on board
We have been keen on destinations where cricket is followed but where fans do not get to watch the big players actively. To bring big stars together to one place is what we aim to do. So the location is determined based on the game’s following and the numbers that show
that there will be an audience and of course the local partnerships. And here in Doha the opening game for Friday is already sold out.
We are thankful to the Qatar Cricket Association who took the initiative to bring LLC here and they got these major local partners who are huge entities and world marks by themselves. Also, the fact that these fifty players of the total 89 have a fan following of over 600 million on the social media alone. We see it as a natural partnership with Qatar Airways and Qatar Tourism which I am sure will also bring back many fans with them to India as well.
Long term plans
We would be doing two seasons every year – one international and one domestic back in India. Hopefully, Qatar will be the destination for us for the next three years. We are hoping for it to be so. All the players are already loving the Qatar hospitality, two of the teams were already practising at the ground this morning and afternoon.
They like the ground too. We set a benchmark when we began with Muscat and hopefully Qatar would supercede that. Some of the players even went golfing today, so they are already loving it out here in Doha.
LLC Masters partners for Qatar tournament include Skyexch.net (Title Sponsor), Qatar Airways (Official Airline Partner), Qatar Tourism (Official Tourism Partner), Dream11 (Official Sports Fantasy Partner), Ooredoo (Telecom Partner), Rario (Digital Collectible Partner), Q Tickets (Ticketing Partner), Qatar Cricket Association (Host), Radio Olive and Suno 91.7 FM (Overseas Radio Partner), Radio City (Radio Partner), Star Sports (TV Broadcast Partner), Disney+ Hotstar and FanCode (Digital Streaming Partner), Fox Cricket (Broadcast Partner – Australia), Kayo Sports (Digital Streaming Partner - Australia), Mera Holding (Outdoor Partner), and P4 psyched4 (Digital Streaming Partner – UK).
The league is owned and managed by Absolute Legends Sports Pvt. Ltd.
Former Indian captain and head coach Ravi Shastri is the League Commissioner and former India woman cricketer Jhulan Goswami is its Women Empowerment Ambassador.