#WCC17: Sachin Tendulkar announced official ambassador by ICC on International Women's Day

New Delhi: Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar has been announced as the official ambassador of Women's Cricket World Cup 2017 by ICC on the occasion of International Women's Day, on Wednesday.

The World Cup kicks off from June 24 at England and Wales with eight cricketing nations going head-to-head for the prestigious trophy. The 21-day tournament having 28 matches will be played at five different venues with the final at Lord's.

Having himself participated in over six world cups, Sachin described the tournament to be "a wonderful moment, a massive occasion, and the biggest thing a cricketer can expect from his/her career." He further added, "Women's participation in any sport is really important. I think that it has always been 'women for sport and sport for women. Thus, here I am, to extend all my support to them and advice them to enjoy the competitiveness."

"All the teams participating in the tournaments are competitive , but my heart is with India," smiled the legend, when asked about which are the teams to look out for. "There are in fact a couple of players which I know and have interacted with in the past- Jhulan Goswami, Mithali Raj, who are expected to get the best out of the game."

We're proud to announce India legend @sachin_rt as an official #WWC17 ambassador on #IWD2017! pic.twitter.com/8R7lOGffBj — ICC (@ICC) March 8, 2017

India kick starts their tournament against the host nation on the opening day at Derby. They face off their arch-rival Pakistan at the same venue in their very next game on July 2.

On being asked to compare Women and Men's cricket, the cricket legend clearly said 'no to comparison' and added, "What is more important than the comparison is the ability to go on to the field and express ourselves, without being constantly judged or compared."

"In fact a true cricket fan will watch both men's and women's part of the game, as there are better players too in women's section