Salman Khan to play cricket in Sharjah

The New Year is likely to begin with a bang with Bollywood and cricket intermingling at the first Celebrity Cricket League match in Sharjah.

Modelled after the IPL (Indian Premier League), its major players including Salman Khan, south Indian stars Venkatesh and Surya are tipped to attend the match slated for January 13 and 14. The Dabangg actor and his brother Sohail will be in Dubai next week to announce the details of the Sharjah match.

"This is not a celebrity cricket match where stars are not serious about the game. The conditions like the pitch, the lights and bowling attack are all well thought of — it's not all fun," said Sameer Khan of Times Square Events, who is bringing the stars to town. Khan will be flying straight to Dubai after wrapping up his shoot for Ek Tha Tiger in Turkey.

These league matches, played in India earlier this year, are starry affairs. While the Telugu Warriors led by Venkatesh have players like Vishu Siddharth and Nitin, its northern counterparts, The Mumbai Heroes, are led by Suniel Shetty and comprises Khan, Riteish Deshmukh, Sohail Khan, Sonu Sood, Harman Baweja, Aftab Shivdasani, Dino Morea, Kunal Khemu and Mahesh Manjrekar, among others.

Khan will be personally unveiling the list of players in his team shortly.

Watch this space for more.