LNJ Bhilwara Kings kick off campaign against Manipal Tigers

The stage is set for the much-awaited second season of Legends League Cricket (LLC), with Bhilwara Kings set to start their campaign against Manipal Tigers on September 18 at Lucknow’s Ekana Stadium.

For its second season, Legends League Cricket has welcomed the LNJ Bhilwara Group as the fourth franchisee team owner.

Former Team India all-rounder Irfan Pathan is the captain of Bhilwara Kings. A long list of former international players makes up the team, comprising Shane Watson, Yusuf Pathan, Naman Ojha, Sreesanth, Tim Bresnan, Samit Patel, Nick Compton, Tino Best, Matt Prior, Monty Panesar, Sudeep Tyagi, William Porterfield, Tanmay Srivastava, Fidel Edwards, Dinesh Salunkhe, Owais Shah and Mayank Telhan.

The US$1bn-worth LNJ Bhilwara Group runs its CSR initiatives through its charity arm, The Jawahar Foundation, which operates in the areas of food security, digital literacy, providing safe drinking water, health & sanitation, environment conservation and is now promoting sports with the acquisition of Bhilwara Kings. 

Mr Riju Jhunjhunwala, Team Owner, LNJ Bhilwara Kings and Founder, Jawahar Foundation, said:

“Giving back to the society and help the less fortunate has always been on my priority list. Through Jawahar Foundation which offers food security under its community kitchen programme – Swabhiman Bhoj – that serves nutritious and clean meals at Rs 1 to the needy in Rajasthan, we have been focusing our efforts towards upliftment of the society and provide for basic needs of people like food and education. 

“However, of late, we have seen that sports plays an important role in overall development of communities with healthy bodies and healthy minds and with LNJ Bhilwara Kings and the Legends Cricket League, we found the perfect opportunity to promote sports in a big way. I am very excited for our debut match in Lucknow. With Irfan Pathan as the captain and a great team at our side, I am confident of great and entertaining cricket from the team that will be remembered for a long time to come. We are here to win but we will be focusing more on playing great cricket.“

Irfan Pathan, captain of LNJ Bhilwara Kings, added:

“I am honoured to have this opportunity of captaining the Bhilwara Kings for this tournament. We have a great, experienced squad and a right mix of batsmen, all-rounder’s and bowlers and we hope to perform well and entertain our supporters in this match as well as in the upcoming games. I sincerely thank Mr. Riju Jhunjhunwala for his support and gratitude which he has bestowed upon us.”

From September 16, 2022, Legends League Cricket will be played in India for the first time. Four teams will compete in the second season from September 16 through October 8, 2022, at six different venues.

Legends League Cricket Season 2 will kick off at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata, followed by Lucknow, New Delhi, Cuttack and Jodhpur.