At the West End Park International Cricket Stadium in Doha, the Asia Lions and India Maharaja faced off in the elimination match of the Legend League Cricket tournament. After winning the toss, the Asia Lions decided to bat first, with Jasmine Naeem and Shivani Mishra serving as umpires and Kerrin Klaaste as the third umpire. The winner of this match would advance to the final on March 20 against the world Giants. The Asia Lions played exceptionally well, winning the match by 81 runs and securing their spot in the final.
First Inning
The Asia Lions had a solid start to their innings with Tharanga and Dilshan opening the batting. Tharanga’s performance was particularly impressive, as he scored a magnificent 50 runs before departing to the pavilion. In his place, Mohammad Hafeez stepped up to join Dilshan at the crease. However, their partnership was short-lived as Pragyan Ojha managed to take the wicket of Dilshan when he had scored just 27 runs. The loss of Dilshan did not deter the Asia Lions, as Asghar Afghan joined Hafeez to build a new partnership. Hafeez showed great determination and skill, contributing 38 runs before being dismissed.
This led to Parera taking his place at the crease, but unfortunately, he was only able to score 24 runs before being dismissed. Razzaq came in to partner with Asghar Afghan. However, his time at the crease was short-lived, as he was dismissed for just 2 runs. This left the Asia Lions in a slightly precarious position with their captain, Afridi, still to come. Asghar Afghan showed remarkable resilience and skill, scoring 34 runs to help his team set a target of 192 runs. Pragyan Ojha and Binny managed to take 2-2 wickets each and Tambe took 1 wicket for India maharaja.
Second Inning
Uthappa and Gambhir took to the crease as the opening pair and made a good start. However, Gambhir was dismissed for 32 runs, and Mohammad Kaif joined Uthappa at the crease. Uthappa was eventually dismissed for 15 runs, and Suresh Raina replaced him. The team struggled as Kaif was also dismissed for 14 runs, followed by Yusuf who only managed to score 9 runs. Irfan Pathan replaced Yusuf but only made 3 runs before being dismissed. Bisla was the next to join the crease, but the team’s progress was hindered when Raina was dismissed for 18 runs. Tanvir came in but was dismissed without scoring any runs, while Ashok Dinda managed to add just 2 runs. Bisla managed to score 8 runs before being dismissed. The entire India Maharaja team was eventually dismissed for a total of 106 runs and blocked the way to the final.
Sohil Tanvir, Abdur Razzak, and Mohammad Hafeez took 2-2 wickets each and Isuru Udana, Shahid Afridi, and Dilshan took 1 wicket each.
Asia Lions and India Maharaja in Elimination round
Paras Khadka is in the playing XI of the Asia Lions
Asia Lions playing XI
Shahid Afridi (c), Asghar Afghan, Misbah-ul-Haq. , Abdul Razzaq. Paras Khadka, Thisara Perera, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Upul Tharanga, Abdur Razzak, Mohammad Hafeez, Sohail Tanvir
India Maharaja playing XI
Gautam Gambhir(c), Suresh Raina, Mohammad Kaif. Stuart Binny, Irfan Pathan, Robin Uthappa, Manvinder Bisla, Ashok Dinda, Pravin Tambe, Harbhajan Singh, and Praveen Kumar.
