Road Safety World Series: All-Round India Legends Storm into Final

The India giants, led by Sachin Tendulkar, made it to the final of the Road Safety World Series T20 by defeating the West Indies Legends by 13 runs at Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Cricket Stadium in Raipur on Wednesday evening. It was none other than captain and crowd favorite Tendulkar, who scored a stylish half-century after Virender Sehwag’s entertaining cameo and Yuvraj Singh hitting sixes. Chasing a target of 219 runs for the win, the Windies scored 206 for 6 in 20 overs.

Needing 24 runs off 12 balls, Indian seamers R Vinay Kumar and Irfan Pathan bowled openly to help their win.

In the 18th over, Vinay Kumar took two wickets of captain Brian Lara (46) and Tino Best, who brought him back into the game.

West Indies legends played half-century innings of Dwayne Smith (63) and Narsingh Deonarine (59 not out) after being eliminated from the tournament.

The West Indies batted first in the first batting, then the dominating performance of the Indian legends in batting gave them a target of 200 plus in their second consecutive match.

Tendulkar’s half-century and Yuvraj’s entertaining unbeaten innings of 49 off 20 balls which included six sixes and four in 20 overs was India’s score of 218.

Apart from important innings of Tendulkar and Yuvraj, Sehwag (35), Yusuf Pathan (37) and Mohammad Kaif (27) also contributed with the bat.

India drove left-arm spinner Suleman Benn through cover to launch an attack on Sehwag’s ball.

This was no stop for Sehwag who was in an attacking mood, while Tendulkar took his time.

Sehwag did not spare the bowlers when they were in his area. The two shared a half-century partnership for the opening wicket before Sehwag gave a return catch to seamer Tino Best.

Later, released from the last game, Tendulkar scored another half-century. He had a 53-run partnership with Kaif before being sacked later by Ryan Austin.

For a century, Tendulkar snatched the best delivery of Best, which went to Kirk Edwards, who came up with a brilliant effort at the deepest point.

Yuvraj and Yusuf later destroyed the West Indies invasion in the death overs with some big hits.

The stylish south-paw struck six sixes in the final two overs. In the 19th over, Yuvraj hit leg-spinner Mahendra Nagamutu for four boundaries over the rope, while the next two runs came in Sulaiman Benn’s over.

Promoted

Despite those big hits, Yuvraj was out for 49 not out. But India were comfortably dismissed for 218 for 3 in 20 overs.

Short score: India’s Giants 218/3 in 20 overs (Sachin Tendulkar 65, Yuvraj Singh 49 *, Yusuf Pathan 37 *, Virender Sehwag 35, Mohammad Kaif 27; Tino Best 2/25) helped the West Indies Legends reach 206/6 in 20 overs. Defeated (Dwayne; Smith 63, Narsingh Denarayan 59 *, Brian Lara 46; R Vinay Kumar 2/26) scoring 12 runs.