The people of the '90s can still remember their childhood heroes like Tendulkar or Ponting contesting hard against each other. I, myself, is a part of that group. We grew up watching our favorite players playing this beautiful game. As we bid adieu our childhood, they also made their way for the new young players who are now making their impact on the highest level of cricket. The baton shifted from some Sachin Tendulkar to some Virat Kohli or some McGrath to some Cummins. Nevertheless, the game remains as exciting as it was, if not more.

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Now, the cricketing world, which continues to give joy and pleasure to innumerable fans all over the globe from ages, has taken the opportunity to fundraise for the recent devastating bush fire in Australia. We all know that before almost seven months, a heart-wrenching fire incident started in the forest of Victoria and other parts of Australia due to global warming and many different reasons. Let us not get into who is responsible for that. However, Australia was burning, and the forest resources were damaged. Many animals were trying to escape this deathtrap. They were taking shelter in residential areas like a hapless orphan. The whole country was praying for rain to quench this thirst of nature and to extinguish the uncontrollable fire. By the time rain-god responded, the destruction was done.



The amount required to compensate for the damage is about 4 billion USD. Here the legends have stepped up. They responded to the request of Cricket Australia for this noble cause to participate in a charity cricket for fundraising. They chose the platform of the BBL final. Initially, this match was scheduled to be played before BBL final match in Sydney on the 9th of February 2020. But it was anticipated to be rained heavily, and the concern of game getting washed out altogether was looming on the head. So, they shifted the match to Melbourne. It was a star-studded show with unique rules. It was ten over a side game with no fielding restrictions. One bowler could bowl how many over he can. The fielders might be substituted, and batsmen could retire out at any point of time. The people could see their childhood back in the field and was soaked in nostalgia. Ricky Ponting and Shane Warne were thought to be the two captains. But as the game moved from Sydney to Melbourne, Shane Warne had to take his name back along with Michael  Clarke as they have some other commitments. So, Brett Lee, another cricketing legend, was chosen as the replacement captain. Players like Wasim Akram, Brian Lara, Yuvraj Singh featured in this match when legendary Courtney Walsh and Sachin Tendulkar was the coach of the teams. Although, both of them participated, and it is like our childhood days have been replayed in front of our eyes.



Another notable thing was the local firefighters who risked their lives without the second thought to extinguish the fire also participated in this game. It was one of many unprecedented steps taken to pay tribute to their untiring service. Ricky Ponting XI eventually won the game by one run. But the most important thing is a staggering amount of 7.7 Million USD was raised towards this cause. It will help the nation to fight against this devastating fire breakout.
It is universally and unconditionally said that this is a gentlemen's game, and the true color of these gentlemen was shown as they prioritized this match and took time out of their schedule. They brushed up the dust to take their armory out for one last time for this noble cause. They enjoyed their involvement, people got nostalgic to see their childhood heroes playing again and, last but not least, and the natural disaster can be tackled to some extent. I want to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to all the participants to make this fundraising program a grand success.