Ganguly, Tendulkar invited to play in London

Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar have been invited by the former Prime Minister of England, John Major to take part in a match at the Oval on September 18. Major is the President of the Surrey County Cricket Club. The club has recently decided to build a cricket museum. To raise funds for the museum, the club is organizing a match between an Asian XI and the Rest of the World. Invitations have also been sent to cricketers in Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

The former Prime Minister has already faxed a letter to the Board of Control for Cricket in India. In the letter, Major has stated that they would like four Indian cricketers to participate in the match. Along with Tendulkar and Ganguly, they have also expressed their desire to have Javagal Srinath and Anil Kumble. But Major has made it clear that the first priority of the authorities are Tendulkar and Ganguly.

However, it is doubtful whether the Indian cricketers can participate in the match. If India participates in the Asian Test Championship, then it will take on Pakistan from September 12 to 16. The match against Bangladesh will come off from September 24 to 28. The secretary of the BCCI, JY Lele said on Thursday "If Tendulkar and Ganguly want to participate, we will not object. However, the schedule leaves little scope for their partcipation. At this moment, our international engagements are our prime concern."