Twenty-two ex-players of India and West Indies turned back the clock in a packed Wankhede stadium in the first match of the Road Safety World Series 2020. Along with these two teams, Australia and Sri Lanka are the other teams participating in this tournament.
The India Legends led by Sachin Tendulkar had players like Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Zaheer Khan, Irfan Pathan and Munaf Patel among others. Brian Lara was leading the West Indies Legends squad which included yesteryear’s stars like Carl Hooper, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Daren Ganga, Tino Best and others.
Tendulkar won the toss and chose to field first. The West Indies legends started strongly as Ganga was the early enforcer. They scored almost at eight runs per over in the first half of the innings. Chanderpaul held the innings together with his 41-ball 61 whereas a host of useful cameos were played by Ganga (32 off 24), Lara (17 off 15), and Best (11 off 5). There were lots of interest around Lara who hit four sublime boundaries but could not play a long innings as he was stumped by Sameer Dighe. West Indies finished with 150 for the loss of eight wickets as Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel and Pragyan Ojha all finished with two wickets each.
It was a dream opening combination for the Indian fans as Tendulkar and Sehwag came together to open for the Indian legends. The duo played some brilliant shots and added 83 runs in 10.2 overs before Tendulkar was dismissed for 36 to Suleiman Benn. Kaif scored 14 and later Yuvraj remained not out for 10 which included an eye catching straight six above the bowler’s head. Sehwag was the best player for India and his innings of 74 was a perfect mix of caution and aggression. He hit the winning boundary for India and got the ‘Man-of-the-Match’ award in India’s 7-wicket victory.
Brief score: India Legends 151/3 in 18.2 overs (Sehwag 74*, Tendulkar 36; Cooper 2/19) beat West Indies Legends 154/8 in 20 overs (Chanderpaul 61, Ganga 32; Patel 2/24, Ojha 2/27) by 7 wickets