Though India legends lost the match against the England legends, the takeaway will be Irfan Pathan’s immaculate all-round performance. The home team suffered their first-ever defeat of the tournament but won the hearts in the Road Safety World Series.
Chasing a target of 189 runs to win, the match went down the wire after a top-order collapse as all-rounder Irfan Pathan and Manpreet Singh Gony went hammer and tongs in the last two overs but fell short by six runs.
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Needing 38 in the last two overs, Gony hit 19 runs with two sixes and a boundary to Chris Tremlett in the penultimate over. However, the Indians could manage only 12 runs in the last over.
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Pathan received rapturous applause on social media for his defining batting skills.
Once a legend always be a legend@IrfanPathan Brillient inning legend pathan Sahab #IrfanPathan#RoadSafetyWorldSeries2021 pic.twitter.com/PkUjjWsKvg
— Official Shamsi ( M S H ) (@MsHaidri) March 10, 2021
Wowwwww what an incredible innings.. @IrfanPathan bhai. Bhai shots dekh kr maja aa gya. Please come back to international cricket. One of the best all rounders of Indian cricket .. #IrfanPathan #IndiaLegends
— Rahman Khan (@AbdulRa16423982) March 10, 2021
What a match, what a knock. @IrfanPathan @unacademy #IrfanPathan #LetsCrackIT #KevinPietersen #IndiaLegends pic.twitter.com/eazswtE6Wp
— MishraJi ke Memes (@bollywoodick) March 10, 2021
The match was also special for England captain Kevin Pietersen who was the star of the match for an entertaining knock of 75 runs that helped them register their second win.
Openers Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar and Mohammad Kaif went home for single digit scores. Meanwhile, Yuvraj Singh got the start but couldn’t capitalize on it.
Scorecard: England Legends: 188/7 (Kevin Pietersen 75, Darren Maddy 29, Yusuf Pathan 3/28); India Legends 182/7 (Irfan Pathan 61*, Manpreet Gony 35*; Monty Panesar 3/15).