While India resumed the new season with New Zealand at Kanpur, a charity match held at Kia Oval, London.
With crowd present in thousands at the ground, Kevin Pietersen, Darren Sammy, Virender Sehwag, Kumar Sangakkara, Harbhajan Singh and Surrey hero Azhar Mahmood took the field to play a T20 match to raise some bucks for charity.
The match raised 100,000 euros for a host of deserving charities it was an excellent way to sign off the 2016 summer.
Charity match is a trend at Kia Oval. Every year, Surrey hosts a charity match to end the summer season.
Last year the match raised 300,000 euros to Hel for Heroes, this years’ game is set for the benefit the coalition of cricketing charities that come together every year as Cricket United – Chance to Shine, the PCA Benevolent Fund, and the lord’s Taverners.
The match was sponsored by Yorkshire Tea, who have supported cricket for a number of years. Ticket for the game were just 20 euros for adults and 1 euro for under 16s.
Last year Indian cricket stars MS Dhoni and Virender Sehwag caught the eye of fans all over the globe. But this season, the match failed to attract many fans.