Indian stars at IIFA charity cricket match

Ruwini JAYAWARDANA

Around 30 to 40 Indian actors will take part in the fund raising ‘Charity for Children’ cricket match that will be a part of the Videocon IIFA Weekend, 2011 Cricket World Cup Tournament Director and IIFA cricket match Chairman Suraj Dandeniya said.

“The event is basically organized to give fans the opportunity to mingle with the stars. They will be able to get autographs, shake hands, pose for photographs, and buy signed T shirts and souvenier cricket bats at the Sinhalese Sports Club on June 4,” he said.

Actors Shah Rukh Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Salman Khan, Aamir Khan, Amrita Rao and many others will be present at the event along with local cricketers Kumara Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardena, Muttiah Muralitharan, Sanath Jayasuriya, Lasith Malinga and others.

Seasoned cricketers like Romesh Kaluwitharana, Upul Chandana, Avishka Gunawardena and D S de Silva will also take part. The official toss will be done at the hands of Bipasha Basu and Sanjay Dutt.

Three teams comprising 33 players will play 10 over matches. The winning team of the first match will compete with the other team. Kumara Sangakkara, Hrithik Roshan and Sunil Shetty will captain the teams.

“The whole event will take about four hours and people would be able to see their favourite stars up close. The actors will be travelling around in beach bungees. There will also be a musical show in which the artistes will perform with vocalists like Bathiya and Santhush. It is basically a carnival rather than a competitive event,” Dandeniya noted.

He also added that Indian cricketers Harbhajan Singh, Javagal Srinath, Mohammed Kaif and others are expected to take part.

Three sets of uniforms have been designed for the match. Originally it was just two uniforms, the blue and the yellow but now with lots of cricketers and artistes eager to take part there will be another uniform that will be designed for the third team. The actors and cricketers will intermingle in the teams. They will not compete with each other separately.

The third uniform will be revealed today in Mumbai. It will be black in colour. Sri Lankan cricketers Sanath Jayasuriya and Kumar Sangakkara will be present at the event to take part in the discussions.

Tickets are priced Rs. 7,500, 5,000, 4,000, 3,000 and 1,000. The Rs. 5,000 tickets have been sold out while only a few Rs. 7,500 tickets are left.

Tickets can be purchased at the Sri Lanka Cricket Board and the Sri Lanka Tourism Board.

All proceeds will go to UNICEF for the rehabilitation program for former child-soldiers and displaced children in the north.

Through this initiative, children are being trained as ‘Cricket Peer Leaders’ and will be given a chance to participate in the celebrity cricket match. IIFA in partnership with Habitat for Humanity will adopt and rebuild a village for refugees in Kilinochchi.

“This is a great opportunity for cricket lovers as well as movie buffs to get together to meet some of their favourite stars.

We are expecting large crowds to witness the best of the two fraternities on one platform,” Dandeniya said.