Messi set to face off against Indian cricket stars at Wankhede: report

Lionel Messi could be sharing the field with some of the biggest names in Indian cricket later this year with the Argentine football superstar reportedly set to play an exhibition cricket match at Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium in December.

Messi, who currently plays for Inter Miami in USA's Major League Soccer (MLS) and is best known for his 17-year association with FC Barcelona, could thus be seen sharing the field with Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma in a seven-a-side cricket match that is scheduled to take place on 14 December.

Messi will be on a promotional tour of India later this year and according to The Indian Express, a well-known event management agency has requested the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) to reserve the iconic venue on 14 December for what is a once-in-a-lifetime event in Indian sport.

"Messi will be at Wankhede Stadium on December 14. He is likely to play a cricket match, too, with former and current cricketers. The organisers will come up with a complete schedule once everything is finalised," an MCA source told the newspaper.

Messi, who had fulfilled his dream of lifting the FIFA World Cup with Argentina in 2022, is likely to visit India from 13 to 15 December and is also expected to visit New Delhi and Kolkata.

This will be the 38-year-old's first visit to India in 14 years, with the iconic forward having previously played an international friendly against Venezuela at Kolkata's Salt Lake Stadium in 2011. Argentina had won that game 1-0 with Nicolas Otamendi scoring the only goal of the match in the 70th minute.