Mumbai, March 13: India Legends' skipper Sachin Tendulkar and Sri Lanka Legends' Muthiah Muralitharan created awareness towards road safety with a group of school children. The two living legends participated in the campaign on the sideline of the India Legends versus Sri Lanka Legends match in the Unacademy Road Safety World Series at DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai recently.
The Road Safety World Series is a five-nation T20 cricket tournament where some of the biggest names in cricket from India, Australia, Sri Lanka, West Indies and South Africa took part.
Some notable players who played in this Series included Bharat Ratna Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan, Brian Lara, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Brett Lee, Brad Hodge, Jonty Rhodes, Muttiah Muralitharan, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Ajantha Mendis and many more. Former India captain, Padma Bhushan and the living legend, Mr Sunil Gavaskar is the Commissioner of the Series.
The first four matches in this League was played at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai and DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai before the organizers decided to reschedule the tournament for a later date due to the outbreak of COVID-19 and the escalating number of cases worldwide. This was also done as per government instruction "that no public gatherings take place in any sporting event".
Every year, more than 1.5-2 lakh people die on Indian roads due to vehicular accidents; one person dies every 4 minutes and 1,214 road accidents occur every day in the country. In the last five years, more than 65 lakh people were disabled completely. It is estimated that the road transport sector contributes to 3.64% of the GDP, but road accidents account for a 3% loss of the GDP too.
This series is being organised mainly to create awareness of road safety in the country. As cricket is the most followed sport in the country and cricketers are looked up to as idols, the Road Safety World Series is aimed to change people's mindset towards their behaviour on the roads.
Source: Media Release