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Yusuf Pathan (left) and Yuvraj Singh (right) of India Legends – Road Safety World Series/Twitter
The Pathan brothers Yusuf and Irfan and Yuvraj Singh with some delightful batting and bowling enabled India to defeat Sri Lanka by 14 runs to win the Unacademy Road Safety World Series final played to a full house at Raipur yesterday.
India invited to bat first totalled 181-4 and Sri Lanka despite making a gallant effort finished on 167-7.
India did not have the best of starts when Rangana Herath dismissed Virender Sehwag for 10 in the third over and Sanath Jayasuriya sent back Subramaniam Badrinath for 7 in the fifth to have them on 35-2. When Farveez Maharoof had skipper Sachin Tendulkar gloving a catch to Upul Tharanga for 30, India were 78-3 in the 11th over.
But from here on Yuvraj Singh and Yusuf Pathan took control of the innings and figured in a stand of 85 off 47 balls that really took the momentum away from Sri Lanka who up to that point had control of the game. Yuvraj slammed 4 sixes and 4 fours in compiling a brilliant 60 off 41 balls, but the main damage to the Lankan bowling was done by Yusuf Pathan who scored 5 sixes and 4 fours in his unbeaten knock of 62 that took him only 36 balls.
Apart from Herath (1/11 off 2) and Maharoof (1/16 off 4) the rest of the Lankan bowlers were taken to task by the fourth wicket pair that saw the last 10 overs produce 111, and the last five 65 runs.
Sri Lanka began the run chase on a positive note with captain Tillakaratne Dilshan and Sanath Jayasuriya racing to 62 off 44 balls, but the first strategic time out at this stage proved costly for them.
Soon after resumption the Pathan brothers made dents into the Lankan batting by getting a wicket off the first over they bowled. Yusuf Pathan ended the opening stand by having Dilshan caught behind for 21, and off the next over Irfan joined his brother by getting Chamara Silva caught at point for two.
The double blows off successive overs put a brake on the Lankan run rate as Upul Tharanga (13) and then Sanath Jayasuriya (43 off 35 balls) were both snared by the Pathan brothers so that Sri Lanka were 91-4 in the 13th over and facing an uphill task of chasing down India’s challenging total.
Despite the heavy odds Chintaka Jayasinghe and Kaushalya Weeraratne made a brave effort to turn things around in a partnership that produced 64 off 35 balls, but with 24 required off the final over and with one of their front line batters Russell Arnold unable to bat after pulling a hamstring while fielding, the task proved beyond Sri Lanka as they managed only 10 and also lost two wickets in the over.
Yusuf Pathan took the Man of the Final award and Dilshan the Man of the Series award finishing as the leading run scorer (271 runs) and leading wicket-taker (12 wickets).
Scores
(ST)
