Srinagar, Oct 16: On Wednesday night thousands of people cheering and jeering and jumping in excitement inside the stadium as they witnessed the final of an international cricket match held after around 40-years in Kashmir.
The final was won by Southern Super Stars defeating Konark Suryas Odisha in the last match of the Legends League Cricket 2024-a tournament where retired players played-
The win came via a thrilling super-over, keeping crowds on their toes in Srinagar’s Bakshi Stadium.
Yusuf Pathan made a blistering 85 from 38 balls (6 fours, 8 sixes) to lead Konak Suryas to a Super Over showdown that went down close to midnight local time.
Earlier, playing in front of a jam-packed crowd, Konak Suryas won the toss and decided to bowl first. Southern batter Hamilton Masakadza stabilized the inning with two formidable partnerships with Martin Guptill (27 off 25 balls) and Pawan Negi (33 off 24 balls) to help the team post a challenging 164/6 in 20 overs.
Masakadza played a brilliant knock in the final, scoring 83 off 58 balls, which included eight fours and five sixes. Apart from these three batters, no other Super Star managed to reach double figures. For Konak Suryas, Sri Lanka international Dilshan Munaweera was the pick of the bowlers, taking 4 wickets for 9 nine runs in 3 overs, ABP reported.
Chasing 165 in the final match of the 2024 Legends League Cricket, the Konak Suryas batters fell in a heap. The Odisha team was reduced to 37/3 after 5.2 overs and 91/6 after 14.1 overs. As the top-order collapse threatened to knock the Suryas out of the tournament, former India international Yusuf Pathan came to the rescue.
Pathan was in the mood to rain down big hits after getting dropped on 1 but found no help from the non-strikers’ end. He hit 28 runs off the penultimate over from Pawan Negi to get the Suryas within reach of the target, needing 7 runs in the final over.
Former Sri Lanka spinner Chaturanga de Silva bowled the 20th over and did well to bring the game to the final regular delivery of the tournament. With 2 runs needed to win from the last ball, Yusuf Pathan was run out while attempting a second run, leaving the score tied and the fixture heading to a super over. After 20 overs, Konak Suryas Odisha made 164/9.
In the Super Over, Southern Super Stars’ Afghan international pacer Hamid Hassan bowled to Konak Suryas Odisha’s Yusuf Pathan and Irfan Pathan. Yusuf hit a six in the over but was dismissed via LBW on the fifth ball. Richard Levi stepped in and hit a four on the final delivery to give the Southern Super Stars a target of 14 runs to chase in their super over.
For the Super Stars, former New Zealand batter Martin Guptill and Pawan Negi opened the batting. Dinesh Pathania bowled the Super Over for Odisha and was smacked for two sixes in the first two balls by Guptill. Pathania made a comeback of sorts, bowling out the Kiwi batter. However, Chirag Gandhi and Pawan Negi managed to score the remaining two runs to hand the Southern Super Stars the 2024 LLC T20 Trophy.
