India Legends started their campaign in the opening game of Road Safety World Series 2022 with a dominating 61-run win over South Africa Legends on Saturday (September 10) here at Green Park Stadium in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh.
Suresh Raina, Stuart Binny and Yusuf Pathan light up the stage with their explosive batting performances while bowlers also showed their class. Riding over dominant performances from Raina, Binny and Pathan, the Indian Legends posted a mammoth 217 for the loss of 4 wickets which was too much for the chasing side.
Chasing a massive target, South Africa put up a dismal show with the bat and were restricted to 156/9 as Indian bowlers put up a clinical show. Andrew Puttick (23) and Morne van Wyk (26) shared an opening stand of 43 runs and gave the Proteas a good start. Once the openers were back in the dugout, the Indian bowlers started tightening the noose around SA middle-order.
As the pressure of the scoreboard was mounting wickets kept falling at regular intervals. Alviro Petersen (10), Jacques Rudolph (16), Henry David (6) were dismissed in quick succession. Captain Jonty Rhodes (38* off 27 balls) was the top-scorer from his side and kept waging a lone battle and found no support from other batters in the middle overs.
For India, leg-spinner Rahul Sharma was the pick of the bowlers as he returned with impressive figures of 2/17 from his quota of 4 overs. Pragyan Ojha (2/32) and Munaf Patel (2/24) bagged two wickets apiece, while Irfan Pathan and Yuvraj also took a wicket each.
Earlier in the day, India Legends’ captain Sachin Tendulkar stepped into the middle to a rousing reception along with Naman Ojha and shared a stand of 46 runs for the first wicket. While Tendulkar scored 15 off 16 balls before getting caught by Johan Botha off Makhaya Ntini, Ojha was looking in sublime touch but his innings didn’t last long as he scored 18-ball 21.
Binny top-scored for the side with his quickfire knock of 82* off 42 deliveries after being sent at number four. The right-handed batter from Karnataka smashed six sixes and five boundaries in his knock and struck at a strike rate of 195.23.
Raina – who recently retired from all formats of cricket – turned the clock back with this fierce cameo. The stylish left-handed batter from Uttar Pradesh entertained the crowd with his 33 off 22 deliveries before getting dismissed by left-arm spinner Eddie Leie. He shared a stand of 64 with Binny and helped his team get past the 100-run mark in the 12th over. Yuvraj too didn’t last long before getting dismissed for a paltry 6.
Binny, however, was unfazed with the fall of wickets at the other end and kept hitting runs at will and got to his fifty with a maximum off Garnett Kruger. Once he was joined by Yusuf Pathan, runs started flowing in for the Indians.
Yusuf (35* off 15 balls) and Binny took SA bowlers to the cleaners and amassed 79 runs in the last five overs as India finished with a flourish. For SA Legends, Johan van der Wath was the pick of the bowlers and the right-arm quick returned with figures of 28/2 from three overs he bowled.
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