Cricket Hall of Fame endorses Road Safety World Series

Atlanta, Jan 14: The Cricket Hall of Fame (CHOF), the first in the world since 1981, has endorsed the Road Safety World Series, a T20 cricket league in India played by legends of the game to create awareness towards road safety in India and around the globe.

In a meeting held virtually among the CHOF board members in the USA on Wednesday (January 11), it has also been unanimously decided that many legends playing or participating in the Road Safety World Series will be inducted into the Hall of Fame this year.

The Board also confirmed Ravi Gaikwad, RTO Chief of Thane (Konkan Range) and promoter of the Road Safety World Series, to become the first individual living in India who will be inducted into the Hall of Fame for his contribution towards the game and making it meaningful to serve humanity with a global noble cause which is impacting all of us.

This is another feather in his cap after he received the Zee Lifetime Achievement Award in Engineering, Science and Technology and Lifetime Achievement Award, Times Brand Icon by the Times Group in sports category in 2021. In 2022, he received the CNBC Lifetime Achievement Award in sports.

The CHOF board approved a special induction ceremony, it will be the first time in its 42-year-old history, the Cricket Hall of Fame will hold an induction ceremony outside the USA.

In yet another first in its history, India will host the first-ever Cricket Hall of Fame induction ceremony. The special induction ceremony will be held before the final match of the Road Safety World Series Season 3, which is scheduled to be held at multiple venues in India during February-March 2023.

This will also be the first time when the Cricket Hall of Fame will induct more than 10 legendary cricketers in the same year and at the same time. Besides participating legends as inductees, CHOF is in the process to include a few other legends including female retired players from India at this event.

What is Cricket Hall of Fame

The Cricket Hall of Fame is in Hartford, Connecticut, USA. Founded in 1981, it is the first international cricket hall of fame in the world. Every year it hosts an induction ceremony on the first Saturday of October, drawing inductees from around the world. Inductees are selected for two categories: Players of distinction or someone who has done something to advance the sport of cricket.

Since its inception, several former cricket stars including Sir Donald Bradman, Sir Everton Weeks, Sir Frank Worrell, Sir Garfield Sobers, Sir Leonard Hutton, Sir Vivian Richards, Abid Sayed Ali, Alvin Kallicharran, Sunil Gavaskar, Gundappa Vishwanath, Ajit Wadekar, Bhagwat Chandrasekhar, Chetan Chauhan, Dilip Vengsarkar, Farokh Engineer, Clyde Walcott, Courtney Walsh, Desmond Haynes, George Headley, Gordon Greenidge, Greg Chappell, Hanif Mohammad, Jeffrey Dujon, Jimmy Adams, Joel Garner, Kerry Packer, Lance Gibbs, Lawrence Rowe, Dr Michael Holding, Moin Khan, Mushtaq Mohammad, Dr Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Steve Bucknor, Tony Greg and Younis Khan have been inducted in the Cricket Hall of Fame.

The Cricket Hall of Fame Museum houses many historical cricket artefacts donated by past inductees and supporters. Items include trophies, uniforms, equipment, books, photographs and articles that demonstrate the history of the sport over time.

The Cricket Hall of Fame is supported by the Sportsmen's Athletic Club of Hartford, Connecticut (Since 1963). Who Is Who in Cricket (CricWho) was launched in 2022 & CHOF is in the final process to offer Largest Cricket Museum in the world where all inductees will occupy precious spots at prime wall or floor forever in the prestigious museum.

Road Safety World Series

The Road Safety World Series is a T20 cricket event which is played between legends of eight countries-India, Australia, South Africa, West Indies, England, New Zealand, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka-to create awareness towards road safety in India and around the world.

The Series features Bharat Ratna and the legendary Sachin Tendulkar and West Indies legend Brian Lara among a host of other legendary cricketers. Sachin Tendulkar is also the Brand Ambassador of the series whereas Padma Bhushan Sunil Gavaskar is the Commissioner of the series.

The Road Safety World Series has completed two seasons successfully, holding matches in different parts of the country like Mumbai, Raipur, Kanpur, Indore and Dehradun, and the third edition is scheduled to be played during February-March 2023.

The Road Safety World Series is not just a sporting event but a movement to save human lives on roads. It is an honest attempt to integrate sports for a noble cause, in this case it is cricket as it is the most popular sport in India and cricketers are looked upon as idols by many.

Why India? Every year India kills a decent size European nation on its roads. Around 1,50,000 people are killed and more than 4,50,000 people are critically injured in India in road accidents every year. One person dies every four minutes in India and out of every hundred people dying in the world, 30 are Indians.

The aim of the Road Safety World Series is to drive social change in terms of people's outlook towards road safety. As cricket is the most followed sport in the country and sports personalities are looked up to as idols by all, a sporting extravaganza like the Road Safety World Series will work as an ideal platform to influence and change people's mindset towards their behaviour on the roads.

Source: Media Release