Mumbai, Sep 1 (IANS): Legendary cricketer Sachin Tendulkar will lead defending champions India Legends in the second edition of the Road Safety World Series (RSWS) scheduled to be played from September 10 to October 1.

The tournament will be played in Kanpur, Raipur, Indore and Dehradun. Kanpur will host the tournament opener and Raipur will host the two semifinals as well as final.

New Zealand Legends are the new team in this edition and they will join the Legends of India, Australia, Sri Lanka, West Indies, South Africa, Bangladesh and England during the 22-day event played primarily to create awareness towards road safety in the country and around the globe.

"The Road Safety World Series is a very good initiative to create awareness towards road safety through cricket. We want every individual in this country to be aware and obey every rules and regulations while on the road and for that to happen, we have to create awareness among the people, I strongly believe that this series will be able to do and achieve the goal of saving lives on Indian roads," said Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways, Government of India.

The Road Safety World Series (RSWS) is supported by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and the Ministry of Information & Technology and Youth Affairs & Sports Government of India. 27th Sports, backed by US-based 27th Investments, are the exclusive marketing rights holder of the league while Professional Management Group (PMG) is the event management partner.

"I am sure the Road Safety World Series will drive social change and work as an ideal platform to influence people's mind-set towards their behaviour on the road and road safety," said Anurag Thakur, Union Minister Information & Technology and Youth Affairs & Sports, Government of India.

Thakur, the former BCCI chief, also said that he is "extremely delighted to know that legends from eight countries i.e. Australia, West Indies, South Africa, England, New Zealand, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and hosts India are going to participate in this tournament.'

The upcoming season of Road Safety World Series will be broadcasted on Colors Cineplex, Colors Cineplex Superhits and newly launched Sports18 Khel while it will be digitally streaming on Voot and Jio.

The aim of the Road Safety World Series is to drive social change in the country and change people's outlook towards road safety. As cricket is the most followed sport in the country and cricketers are looked upon as idols by many, this League will work as an ideal platform to influence and change people's mind set towards their behaviour on the roads.