On Wednesday, Sachin Tendulkar’s quickfire half century helped IND Legends beat WI Legends by 12 runs. The first semifinal of the Road Safety World Series was played at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh international Cricket Stadium, Raipur. Thanks to the victory, the Indian side is now in the final of the tournament.

The first semi-final of the tournament which has brought together legendary players like Sachin Tendulkar, Virendra Sehwag, Brian Lara and more was as entertaining as it could have been. The India Legends scored a mammoth 218 runs in their 20 overs. However, it looked like the West Indies side would be able to chase it and the match turned out to be a nail-biter till the very last over.

The match kicked off with the West Indies Legends winning the toss and choosing to bowl first. Being put to bat first, the Indian side started off with flying colours with the opening pair of Sehwag-Tendulkar wreaking havoc. While Viru played the aggressive batsman he was known as during his days as an Indian team opener, Sachin gave him the much-needed defensive support from the other end. Virendra Sehwag hit some magnificent boundaries and one maximum in is 35-off-17 deliveries inning. However, Tino Best bested the batsman and Sehwag returned to the dressing room caught and bowled by Best.

After Sehwag’s wicket, NatWest trophy hero Mohammad Kaif went to the middle but seemed to struggle. The all-rounder played a lot of dots and was responsible for bringing down the explosive run-rate of India Legends. The little master soon realized that he needs to take the steering wheel in his own hands and started firing off on all 4-cylinders. He reminded fans of some of his most brutal yet classy innings. The Master Blaster scored 65 runs off 42 balls, hitting six boundaries and 3 maximums. Even at the age of 47-years, the legendary cricketer had a strike rate of over 150.

However, in the 14th over when India Legends was cruising at 140 runs, Sachin was sent to the pavilion by Best. However, the middle-order batsmen continued things where Sachin left off and soon the pair of Yusuf Pathan and Yuvraj Singh went after the West Indies bowlers. While Pathan scored a quick 37 off just 20 balls, Yuvraj was in his best form, scoring 49 off 20 balls. During an over of Mahendra Nagamootoo, Yuvraj hit the bowler for 4 huge sixes. Yuvraj refreshed the memories of the 2007 match against England where he hit 6 sixes in an over off Stuart broad. In its last 5 overs the Indian side scored 72 runs and ended at 218 runs by the end of 20 overs.

Chasing the mammoth total, the West Indies side gave Indians a tough fight. Former aggressive West Indian batsman Dwayne Smith was at his best and hit shots all over the ground threatening to take the match away from the India Legends. He played a beautiful 63-run inning off just 36 deliveries with 9 boundaries (the maximum in the Match) and 2 powerful sixes. Meanwhile, Narsingh Deonarine also played the role of supporting batsman and scored a commendable 59 runs off 44 balls.

After Kirk Edwards and Dwayne Smith’s dismissal, West Indian captain Brian Lara looked at his best and scored 46 runs off 28 balls. Interestingly enough he only had 4 boundaries and 2 sixes, and a major chunk of his runs came from running between the wickets.

With just 32 runs needed in 3 overs, it seemed like Lara would singlehandedly take the game home. However, Vinay Kumar bowled a brilliant 19th over where he took two important wickets and gave away only 7 runs. In the last over, the West Indian side needed 17 runs and Irfan Pathan did what he does best. He bowled some beautiful deliveries, not giving his opposition a room to open their arms and gave off only 4 runs while taking 1 wicket.

The dramatic turnaround by India legends helped them book the spot for the final of the Road Safety T20 World Series 2021.

Twitter reactions after India Legends beat West Indies Legends: