Twitter Reactions: World Legends cruise past India Legends by massive margin in season opener

An exciting T10 tournament named the UAE Friendship Cup 2022 got underway today (March 5) as India Legends took on the World Legends in the opening fixture. Both sides comprised legendary cricketers from the past and they had the challenge of adapting to the shortest format of 10 overs tournament. The clash turned out to be a one-sided affair as World Legends 11 won by 73 runs.

Earlier in the day, World legends won the toss and chose to bat first at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium. Amit Bhandari opened the bowling for India Legends while Tilakaratne Dilshan and Phil Mustard came out to the crease for the World Legends. Both the batters took on the bowling straight away with just ten overs per innings and got the side to a flying start, adding 32 runs in the first two overs.

However, Imtiyaz Ahmed held the India Legends bowling together picking up the important wicket of Mustard who was looking in excellent touch for 28 in the third over. Narendra Hirwani bowled an economical over conceding just seven runs and curbed the run flow while Imtiyaz came back for his second over to pick up another important wicket of Dilshan for 18.  Asghar Afghan meanwhile, was striking it really well from one end and took apart Hirwani in his second over.

The right-hander hit three sixes and five fours in his quickfire innings of 48 of 18 balls and took the score past 100 with a crucial partnership alongside Hamilton Masakadza (18). Jupiter Ghosh’s two fours towards the end helped the World Legends post a formidable total of 139 for the loss of 3 wickets in ten overs. India Legends bowled 17 extras and it did not help the side by any means.

India Legends struggle in  big run chase

In reply, the India Legends started the innings fluently with Jai Prakash Yadav taking a toll on Chaminda Vaas. Yadav alongside Ajay Sharma kept finding the gaps on the field until the fourth over, where he was cleaned by Graeme Cremer. Imtiyaz couldn’t do much damage either as the innings completely collapsed for the India Legends.

Mohammad Azharuddin managed to hit a six in his 19-ball 13 while Creamer was the pick of the bowlers with 3/5 in his two overs. The World Legends ended up winning the game by a huge margin of 73 runs and have made a big statement already in the T10 tournament.

Here’s how Twitter reacted to the win: