The Baroda Cricket Affiliation (BCA) Stadium in Vadodara — venue of the second leg of the inaugural Worldwide Masters League 2025, turned the clock again to the golden period of India’s spin domination, headlined by a historic hat-trick from leg-spinner Rahul Sharma that helped India Masters convincingly beat South Africa Masters by eight wickets, to proceed their successful run within the match.
Past the nostalgia, one factor remained unchanged — the aggressive hearth refused to fade. The reflexes is probably not as sharp, the ft is probably not as fast, however the need to win burnt simply as fiercely. Each run, each wicket, each dive carried the identical ardour that when enthralled thousands and thousands.
And with the long-lasting Sir Vivian Richards in attendance, it turned out a particular night for the jam-packed crowd.
Whereas age could have caught up, however the spirit of battle by no means will. The rivalries had been renewed, the fervour was intact, as Saturday’s proceedings started with Sachin Tendulkar electing to bowl, and his spin bowlers taking full benefit of the situations to limit a powerful South Africa Masters line-up to a meagre 85 in lower than 14 overs.
In anticipation of the God of Cricket — Sachin Tendulkar, popping out to guide India’s run-chase of 86, the stadium was stuffed to capability, cheering each shot from the batting genius’ blade, at the same time as South Africa Masters’ skipper Kallis selected to open the bowling along with his spinners. The transfer paid off as off-spinner Thandi Tshabalala dismissed the grasp blaster with a reasonably easy caught and bowled probability to silence the gang.
After Tendulkar’s departure, fellow opener Ambati Rayudu, took cost of the chase within the firm of Irfan Pathan (12), who was promoted up the order to take the spinners to activity. The ploy labored for some time with Pathan taking part in a few sweetly-timed boundaries earlier than an tried hoick off leg-spinner Eddie Leie noticed him taking the lengthy route again to the dressing room.
With India in a spot of trouble at 27/2 contained in the powerplay, Pawan Negi discovered himself elevated to No.4, and confirmed his batting prowess with a few boundaries and a six, as he mixed with Rayudu for an unbeaten 62-run stand to place India over the road with 9 overs to spare. Rayudu remained unbeaten on a 34-ball 41, with the right-hander discovering the fence on seven events.
Earlier, taking part in his first match of the match, wrist spinner Rahul was employed as early because the third over of the necessary powerplay to comprise the onslaught from the South African opening combo of Hashim Amla and Henry Davids, who gave the guests a blistering 35-run begin.
After warming up with a good first over, Rahul accounted for the wickets of Amla (9), Kallis and Jacques Rudolph off the primary three balls of his second over to not solely apply the brakes on the scoring but additionally uncovered the South Africans’ vulnerability towards high quality spin.
Rahul obtained nice help from the opposite finish, with left-arm spinner Pawan Negi trapping Farhaan Behardien earlier than packing again the one South African batter to supply some resistance — Davids, who top-scored for the facet with a 28-ball 38, powered by 4 boundaries and a six.
Lowered to 63/5, South Africa Masters wanted some solidity within the center however India Masters skipper Tendulkar well used the spin-friendly situations by throwing the ball to Yuvraj Singh, who responded to the religion proven on him with the wickets of Vernon Philander and Garnett Kruger for golden geese off successive balls to additional dent the guests.
Yuvraj reminded the South Africans of his spin-bowling masterclass by castling a well-set Dane Vilas for his third wicket of the competition. The wicketkeeper-batter, who caught a boundary off the earlier supply, perished whereas trying one other glory shot. Vilas’s 15-ball 21, was the one different double digit rating from the vacationers on Saturday.
Seam-bowling all-rounder Stuart Binny then accomplished the formalities in his solely over of the day, claiming the wickets of Makhaya Ntini and Eddie Leie.
Temporary Scores: South Africa Masters 85 (Henry Davids 38, Dane Vilas 21; Rahul Sharma 3/18, Yuvraj Singh 3/12, Pawan Negi 2/21, Stuart Binny 2/1) misplaced to India Masters 89/2 (Ambati Rayudu 41 not out, Pawan Negi 21 not out) by 8 wickets
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