India Champions emerged as the winners of the inaugural edition of the World Championship of Legends as they beat Pakistan Champions by 5 wickets in the final on Saturday, July 13 at Edgbaston, Birmingham. After Pakistan captain Younis Khan won the toss and opted to bat first, his side posted a decent score of 156/6 in their 20 overs.
In reply, India chased down the target in 19.1 overs and registered a comfortable win by 5 wickets. Ambati Rayudu was the star of the show for India with his magnificent innings of 50 runs off just 30 balls.
India’s chase got off to a rollicking start with openers Robin Uthappa and Rayudu taking on the Pakistan bowlers in the powerplay. Rayudu began the proceedings by taking on Aamer Yameen in the first over itself smashing him for a boundary and a six.
Uthappa also continued the onslaught smashing Yameen for two boundaries in the next over. However, he failed to continue his innings and got dismissed by the Pakistan bowler in the same over. Suresh Raina walked in at number three and announced his arrival at the crease with a boundary but ended up giving a straightforward catch to Sohail Tanvir on just his second ball to leave India on 38/2.
After two quick blows, Rayudu decided to dig deep and stitched a crucial 60-run stand with Gurkeerat Singh Mann. The opener brought up his fifty off just 29 balls with India in a commanding position at 98/2 after 11 overs.
Just when things looked in control for India, Pakistan struck back with two quick wickets dismissing a well set Rayudu (50 off 30) and Gurkeerat Singh Mann (34 off 33) in a space of ten balls.
Pakistan made the mistake of dropping a fair few catches late in the innings which gave Yusuf Pathan and Yuvraj Singh lives in their crucial partnership of 42 runs.
Pathan’s innings of 30 off just 16 balls helped India stay in the fight when Pakistan bowlers were piling up the pressure on Yuvraj Singh (15* off 22) who struggled to cut loose. Pathan got out trying to hit a six through mid-wicket and was caught by Shoaib Maqsood in the penultimate over of the game.
Things got really tense when Pathan departed with India needing 7 runs from the last 10 balls. However, Yusuf’s brother Irfan slammed a six in the very first ball of the final over to finish the match in style.
Earlier in the day, Pakistan got off to a miserable start as Anureet Singh dismissed opener Sharjeel Khan (12 off 10) in the second over with 14 runs on the board. Sohaib Maqsood also failed to convert his start, losing his wicket to Vinay Kumar after scoring 21 (12).
Kamran Akmal looked set for big score batting on 24 but fell prey to Pawan Negi in the ninth over leaving Pakistan on 68/3 after 8.2 overs. With wickets from one end, Shoaib Malik turned anchor for his team and kept the scoreboard moving. However, the Pakistan batting failed to turn up in the final 5 overs due to Misbah-ul-Haq retiring hurt due to cramps. Without Misbah, Pakistan struggled and were only able to put up 156 runs for the loss of 6 wickets. The score was pushed a little bit due to Sohail Tanvir who hit 19* off 9 balls.