NEW YORK, Nov 8 (APP): Before an excited crowd of 41,000, legendary
Australian spinner Shane Warne’s team defeated Indian maestro Sachin Tendulkar’s men by six wickets in a T20 match, which was a greatest gathering of legendary cricketers ever assembled on U.S. soil.
Batting first “Sachin’s Blasters” scored 140 runs for the loss of 8
wickets at New York Mets’ Citi Field Stadium. Swashbuckling Virender Sehwag top scored with 55, while partnering with Tendulkar in an opening stand of 85. Tendulkar fell to an amazing catch in the covers by South Africa’s Jack Kallis for 26. Australian spinners– A.Symonds and Warne — took three wickets each conceding 15 and 20 runs respectively. Pakistan’s king of
swing Wasim Akram bowled a tight length, but failed to get a wicket. He conceded only 16 runs in four overs.
Helped by Ricky Ponting’s breezy 48 off 38 balls, “Warne’s Warriors”
easily reached the target for the loss of four wickets. Rawalpindi Express Shoaib Akhtar, who was cheered by the crowd–mainly Pakistanis and Indians –each time he came into bowl, captured two wickets for 16 runs.
Warne was declared Man of the Match having taken the wickets of the
opposing skipper Tendulkar, VVS Laxman and Brian Lara.
Tendulkar thanked the cheering crowd for their support, saying during
the post-match presentation that “the first match has been really special. We thoroughly enjoyed being here. New York, you were brilliant. Houston and Loss Angeles, you are going to find it difficult to match them.”
Addressing media in a post-match press conference, Tendulkar said the
atmosphere for the match was “electrifying” and the whole idea behind the series is to get as many nations together to celebrate the sport and globalize cricket.
Warne also appreciated the fans who had turned up to watch
cricket match. “We wanted to be competitive. There was some skillful
batting, bowling and fielding out there. But we know they will come back hard in Houston. A lot of the guys have trained hard, they are proud people, they don’t want to be embarrassed and they were not today,” he said.
While the match was played competitively, the camaraderie between the
players was visible as they laughed and cheered each other during the game.
The next match will be on November 11 in Houston.
Both the teams took a lap of honour after the game, thanking and
applauding the cheering fans who waved the national flags, banners and placards to salute the legends. Many of them had their faces painted with colours of their national flags.
Tendulkar said he hopes to make the series an annual event. For the
matches in Houston and Los Angeles, Warne and Tendulkar said they would
make some changes in the line-up and rotate the players as they want all the cricketers to participate in the series.
Warne said some people had been skeptical on how the retired players
will perform but “we didn’t take it easy, it was very competitive.”
Appearing with Tendulkar and Warne in the post-match press conference,
Shoaib Akhtar said it was “amazing” playing with Tendulkar. “He is an amazing captain. What better brand than Sachin to promote the game abroad,” he said.
SCORBOARD:
Sachin’s Blasters innings (20 overs maximum) R B 4s 6s SR
V Sehwag b Vettori 55 22 3 6 250.00
SR Tendulkar* c Kallis b Warne 26 27 2 1 96.29
VVS Laxman st Sangakkara b Warne 8 9 0 0 88.88
BC Lara lbw b Warne 1 8 0 0 12.50
DPMD Jayawardene c sub (AB Agarkar) b Symonds 18 15 0 1 120.00
CL Hooper lbw b Symonds 11 19 0 0 57.89
SM Pollock c Kallis b Donald 11 9 0 1 122.22
Moin Khan c Kallis b Symonds 1 2 0 0 50.00
CEL Ambrose not out 1 7 0 0 14.28
M Muralitharan not out 2 2 0 0 100.00
Did not bat: Shoaib Akhtar
Extras (lb 4, w 2) 6
Total (8 wickets; 20 overs) 140 (7.00 runs per over)
Fall of wickets 1-85 (Tendulkar, 7.6 ov), 2-85 (Sehwag, 8.1 ov), 3-88
(Lara, 9.5 ov), 4-97 (Laxman, 11.4 ov), 5-118 (Jayawardene, 15.3 ov), 6-127 (Hooper, 17.3 ov), 7-130 (Moin Khan, 17.6 ov), 8-137 (Pollock, 19.2 ov)
Bowling O M R W Econ
Wasim Akram 4 0 16 0 4.00
AA Donald 3 0 23 1 7.66
CA Walsh 2 0 30 0 15.00
JH Kallis 1 0 19 0 19.00 (1w)
SK Warne 4 0 20 3 5.00
DL Vettori 4 0 13 1 3.25
A Symonds 2 0 15 3 7.50 (1w)
Warne’s Warriors innings (target: 141 runs from 20 overs) R B 4s 6s SR
JH Kallis run out (Muralitharan) 13 12 3 0 108.33
ML Hayden c Moin Khan b Shoaib Akhtar 4 4 1 0 100.00
RT Ponting not out 48 38 3 3 126.31
KC Sangakkara c Jayawardene b Shoaib Akhtar 41 29 2 3 141.37
A Symonds lbw b Muralitharan 1 7 0 0 14.28
JN Rhodes not out 20 14 0 3 142.85
Extras (b 2, lb 2, w 10) 14
Total (4 wickets; 17.2 overs) 141 (8.13 runs per over)
Did not bat:Wasim Akram, DL Vettori, SK Warne*, CA Walsh, AA Donald
Fall of wickets 1-20 (Hayden, 2.4 ov), 2-22 (Kallis, 2.5 ov), 3-102
(Sangakkara, 12.3 ov), 4-104 (Symonds, 13.5 ov)
Bowling O M R W Econ
Shoaib Akhtar 4 0 26 2 6.50 (3w)
SM Pollock 3 0 30 0 10.00 (4w)
CEL Ambrose 3 0 36 0 12.00 (3w)
M Muralitharan 4 1 18 1 4.50
CL Hooper 3 0 20 0 6.66
SR Tendulkar 0.2 0 7 0 21.00
Match details
Toss – Warne’s Warriors, who chose to field
Series – Warne’s Warriors led the 3-match series 1-0
Player of the match – SK Warne (Warne’s Warriors)
