India’s champions defeat Pakistan’s champions in the WCL 2024 final to claim the trophy. India Champions defeated Pakistan Champions by 5 wickets in the championship match on Saturday, July 13 at Edgbaston, Birmingham, to become the first-ever World Championship of Legends winners. Younis Khan, the captain of Pakistan, won the toss and chose to bat first. His team scored a respectable 156/6 in their 20 overs.
India easily defeated England by 5 wickets after reaching the mark in 19.1 overs. Ambati Rayudu, who scored 50 runs in just 30 balls, was the hero of the show for India.
With openers Robin Uthappa and Rayudu taking on the Pakistani bowlers in the powerplay, India’s chase got off to a wild start. In the first over of the match, Rayudu took on Aamer Yameen and smashed him for a boundary and a six.
In the following over, Uthappa carried on his assault by hitting Yameen for two boundaries. But he was removed in the same over by the Pakistani bowler after failing to extend his innings. At number three, Suresh Raina signaled his arrival at the crease with a boundary, but on his second ball, he gave Sohail Tanvir an easy catch, leaving India on 38/2.
Following two early strikes, Rayudu made the decision to go deep and he and Gurkeerat Singh Mann cobbled together an important 60-run stand. After 11 overs, India was cruising at 98/2 when the opener reached his fifty off just 29 balls.
When it appeared that India had the upper hand, Pakistan counterattacked, taking two quick wickets in as many balls, removing the well-positioned Rayudu (50 off 30) and Gurkeerat Singh Mann (34 off 33).
Late in the innings, Pakistan committed the error of dropping a significant number of catches, which provided Yuvraj Singh and Yusuf Pathan the opportunity to establish a critical 42-run partnership.
When Yuvraj Singh (15* off 22) was struggling to get loose, the Pakistani bowlers were applying more and more pressure. Pathan’s innings of 30 off just 16 balls kept India in the game. In the penultimate over of the match, Pathan was caught by Shoaib Maqsood while attempting to hit a six through mid-wicket.
With India needing seven runs from the final ten balls, things were extremely tense when Pathan left. To end the contest in style, though, Yusuf’s brother Irfan hammered a six off the opening ball of the last over.
Pakistan’s day started horribly when Anureet Singh removed opener Sharjeel Khan (12 off 10) in the second over of the match with 14 runs scored. Despite scoring 21 (12), Sohaib Maqsood was unable to convert his start and was removed by Vinay Kumar.
After batting on 24, Kamran Akmal appeared to be headed for a huge score, but he was caught by Pawan Negi in the ninth over, bringing Pakistan to 68/3 after 8.2 overs. Shoaib Malik became his team’s anchor after taking wickets at one end and kept the scoreboard ticking over. However, Misbah-ul-Haq’s cramp-related retirement meant that Pakistan’s batting collapsed in the last five overs. Pakistan labored without Misbah and managed just 156 runs at a cost of six wickets. Sohail Tanvir’s 19* off 9 balls caused the score to be slightly pushed.
