Pakistan to take part in 2023 edition of Road Safety World Series tournament: Report

A team from Pakistan will feature in the Road Safety World Series when the tournament takes place in England later this year, ESPNCricinfo reported on Saturday.

Amid ongoing political tensions between the governments of India and Pakistan, there has not been a Pakistan team taking part in the Road Safety World Series so far.

Road Safety World Series is a tournament that is held to raise awareness about road safety, and has featured cricketing icons like Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Tilakaratne Dilshan, Jonty Rhodes among others.

Two editions of the Road Safety World Series have taken place so far and both have been held in India. This will be for the first time that the tournament will move out of India, with England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) agreeing to host the upcoming edition, that will start from early September.

The fixtures and dates are yet to be decided for the third edition. Nine teams will participate this time around, up from eight teams in 2022.

The inaugural edition kickstarted in March 2020 with matches across Mumbai and Raipur, but was suspended after just four games owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. The season then resumed in March 2021, with the final being held on 21 March that year. India Legends went onto beat Sri Lanka Legends in the title clash.

For the second half of the season, Australia had withdrawn owing to COVID-19 travel restrictions and were replaced by Bangladesh.

The 2022 edition was held between 10 September and 1 October, and it was a repeat of the 2020 final with India Legends taking on Sri Lanka Legends. Naman Ojha scored a century in that match as India went onto defend the title with a 33-run win.