Jammu: Banking on Hamilton Masakadza’s impressive knock with the bat and some good bowling performances with the ball, Southern Superstars entered the final of Legends League Cricket 2024. They defeated Konark Suryas Odisha by 7 wickets at the Bakshi Stadium on Saturday.
Southern Superstars won the toss and elected to bowl first. Richard Levi and Dilshan Munaweera opened the innings for Konark Suryas Odisha. They faced an early setback as they were down to 8/4 in 3.5 overs. For the fifth wicket, Levi and Irfan Pathan added 45 runs before Levi was dismissed for 22 from 25 balls. Then it was the Pathan brothers’ show in the innings. The duo added 61 runs for the sixth wicket. Yusuf Pathan made 43 from 21 balls. Skipper Irfan Pathan played a captain’s knock as he scored 62 from 48 balls. At the end of the innings, they posted a score of 148/8 in 20 overs.
For Southern Superstars, Hamid Hassan (2/27), Abdur Razzak (2/19), Subodh Bhati (2/29) and Kedar Jadhav (2/33) took two wickets each in the innings.
With a target of 149 on the board, Martin Guptill and Shreevats Goswami opened the innings for Southern Superstars. Guptill was dismissed for just 4 from 3 balls by Diwesh Pathania. Goswami was then joined by Hamilton Masakadza in the middle. The duo added 82 runs for the second wicket before Goswami was dismissed for 23 from 27 balls. Masakadza scored 67 runs from 49 balls. Pawan Negi remained unbeaten on 40* from 20 balls and helped his team win the match. They chased down the target in 17.2 overs.
For Konark Suryas Odisha, Diwesh Pathania (1/22), Vinay Kumar (1/21) and KP Appanna (1/14) took one wicket each in the innings.
Konark Suryas Odisha will next face the winner of the eliminator match on October 14 (Monday).
