Road Safety World Series:-IND LEGENDS Vs SA LEGENDS

Stuart Binny was the anchor of the Indian innings as he scored an unbeaten 82 off 42 balls to lead India Legends to a mammoth 217/4. Yusuf Pathan perfectly played the role of the finisher, as he did so often in his playing days, smashing 35 in 15 balls and the partnership between him and Binny produced 88 runs in just 40 balls. Before Pathan, it was Suresh Raina who gave Binny company as he scored 33 in 22. Naman Ojha gave the India Legends a good start with Sachin Tendulkar as the openers put up a stand of 46 runs in 5.2 overs.

The South African batters were hardly able to put up a challenge and were limited to 156/9. After winning the toss, India Legends opted to bat first with Stuart Binny top scoring with a blistering 82 runs and guiding India to 217 runs. He was ably supported Suresh Raina (33)  and Yusuf Pathan (35*). Tendulkar started well but his innings was cut short at 16 when he was taken by Johan Botha off a Makhaya Ntini delivery. Chasing 218, South Africa Legends lost wickets at regular interval with Rahul Sharma snapping up 3 wickets for 17 runs while Munaf Patel and Pragyan Ojha contributed with 2 wickets each.

Sachin Tendulkar and Yuvraj Singh couldn’t fire:-

One of the finest batsman of the country Sachin Tendulkar who is captaining India Legends in the Road Safety World Series failed to fire as he was dismissed for just 16 runs. Yuvraj Singh our Champion also was not good with the bat as he fell for just 6 runs. In this tournament, we would be seeing our Legends once again on the field taking command for the country. Both these players have made huge contributions in popularizing cricket and have done wonders for the Country.

India Legends are the inaugural Champions of the Road Safety World Series. They had beaten Sri Lanka Legends in the Final. Suresh Raina is the new legend to join the team and contribute. He had a fine night scoring 31 runs and having a great partnerships with Stuart Binny. Fans were a little disappointed as they were not able to see the God (Sachin Tendulkar) firing shots and Yuvraj Sixes.

Squads of both teams:-

India Legends Squad: Sachin Tendulkar (C), Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Irfan Pathan, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Munaf Patel, Subramaniam Badrinath, Stuart Binny, Naman Ojha, Manpreet Gony, Pragyan Ojha, Vinay Kumar, Abhimanyu Mithun, Rajesh Pawar, and Rahul Sharma.

South Africa Legends Squad: Jonty Rhodes (C), Alviro Petersen, Andrew Puttick, Eddie Leie, Garnett Kruger, Henry Davids, Jacques Rudolph, Johan Botha, Johan van der Wath, Lance Klusener, L. Norris Jones, Makhaya Ntini, Morne van Vyk, T Tshabalala, Vernon Philander, and Zander de Bruyn.

A fine half-century from Stuart Binny and brilliant spin bowling spells from Rahul Sharma and Pragyan Ojha helped India Legends defeat South Africa Legends by 61 runs in the Road Safety World Series opener on Saturday.
India has made a brilliant start to their Road Safety World Series campaign with this all-round show. South Africa on the other hand has a lot to fix if they want to progress further. Chasing 218, Andrew Puttick and Morne van Wyk put South Africa Legends to a fine start. Spinner Rahul Sharma delivered India a breakthrough, trapping van Wyk lbw for 26 off 24 balls.

Soon, Pragyan Ojha also dismissed Puttick for 23 off 24 balls, with Sachin Tendulkar taking the catch. South Africa Legends were 2/58 at this point. South Africa continued losing wickets to Indian spin, with Ojha trapping Alviro Petersen for just 10 after he was stumped by Naman Ojha. Then, Henry Davids’s wicket was taken by Yuvraj. Davids could only score six runs. More than halfway into the match, South Africa was 4/90. Rahul Sharma got his second wicket after dismissing Jacques Rudolph for 16 runs off 14 balls. Pacer Munaf Patel joined the party, cleaning all-rounder Johan Botha’s wickets for just eight runs. South Africa Legends were left struggling at 106/6.

Captain Jonty Rhodes tried to keep one end steady. Johan van der Wath and Eddie Leie scored ducks, trapped by Rahul and pacer Irfan Pathan respectively. The score read 124/8 for South Africa in 17.2 overs. Munaf got his second wicket in the match, dismissing Makhaya Ntini for six. With this, SA was left at 142/9 with an over left to get an unachievable 76 runs. South Africa ended their innings at 156/9, getting fourteen runs in the final over.

Captain Jonty ended as top-scorer for his side with 38 off 27 balls. India Legends won the match by 61 runs. Rahul (3/17) and Pragyan Ojha (2/32) did damage with their spin while Munaf Patel also got two wickets. Irfan and Yuvraj got one wicket each. Electing to bat first, India Legends were off to a good start. Openers Naman Ojha and Sachin Tendulkar played some fine shorts to the delight of nostalgic fans. However, South African pacer Makhaya Ntini ended the 46-run stand in just 5.2 overs by dismissing Tendulkar for just 16 off 15 balls after he was caught by Johan Botha.

Ojha was soon dismissed by Johan van der Wath for 21 off 18 balls, with India Legends 52/2 in 6.1 overs. Then Suresh Raina, who recently retired from all formats of the game became centre stage of fans’ attention, scoring runs with ease. Stuart Binny was also firing quick runs from the other end. They put on an enjoyable 64-run stand, which ended with Raina’s dismissal for 33 off 22 balls by Eddie Leie. Following this, a struggling Yuvraj Singh also fell cheaply for just 6 off 8 balls, reducing India to 129/4 in 14.3 overs.