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Lankan stars for Anshuman Gaikwad benefit

Former Test star Anshuman Gaikwad, who looks a cert to take over as manager of the Indian cricket team when incumbent Madan Lal's tenure ends on September 30, has been granted a benefit match to be played at the IPCL ground in Baroda on November 11.

The one day game will put India against Sri Lanka. Gaikwad, son of former India captain Dattajirao Gaikwad, confirmed that the stars of both sides had agreed to participate.

Besides the current stars, Gaikwad has also invited some old friends like Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, Mohinder Amarnath, Ravi Shastri and Karsan Ghavri for the game, though it is not yet clear how many of them will actually play in the game.

Gaikwad, a former makeshift opener and part-time offspinner, said that he had been given the choice of Ahmedabad or Mumbai as venue for the match, but that he preferred Baroda as he has played Ranji Trophy for that side for 23 years.

From Sri Lanka, the stars likely to make it are Jayasuriya, Aravinda D'Silva, Ranatunga, Vaas and Muralitharan, with the younger upcoming players making up the rest of the side. For India, the likes of Tendulkar, Ganguly, Azharuddin, Navjot Sidhu, Vinod Kambli, Anil Kumble, Ajay Jadeja and Javagal Srinath have already confirmed their participation.

Venkatraghavan and Maninder Singh have agreed to umpire the match.