IND-L vs PAK-L

That's all that we have for you from the first season of the World Championship of Legends. We had the perfect blockbuster climax to it - an India-Pakistan showdown - there were ebbs and flows aplenty but the India Champions came out the right side of it. This sure was an entertaining tournament - plenty of big names of the yesteryears rolling back the clock and presenting us with some memorable moments, and having merely watched them at their peak in the old days, it sure was a pleasure to call the action. Hope you enjoyed our coverage of the tournament - we'll be back with plenty more cricketing action tomorrow. This is Rajarshi Das, signing off on behalf of Arya Sekhar Chakraborty. Good night!

Yuvraj Singh (India Champions captain): The boys showed some great character after losing three games. We put up our best performance in the semi final and even today we did a great job. It was a good toss to lose. We needed one big game from Rayudu and we got that in the end. See whenever I have needed Bhajji he has stepped up. According to conditions I felt it was easier to face the off spinner so Irfan came into the picture. We executed our plans perfectly and that is the reason why we are on the winning side. There's no better feeling than winning the game for India. It's hard to get on the field. Australia and Pakistan were really tough and we needed to play brilliantly to beat them. The crowd has been fantastic. They couldn't have asked for a better India-Pakistan champions.

Younis Khan (Pakistan Champions captain): I feel we were atleast 15-20 runs short. The Indians played brilliantly. Whenever we play the finals, it's important to stitch partnerships which we didn't get. The 50-60 odd partnership from India helped them win the game. Yesterday in the semi final we got a big partnership. If you don't get a partnership in a big game, you will fall in the losing side. It was very competitive in all the matches. It never looked like a retired cricketers league. I thought of batting at No 11. Big support to the crowd for coming out in large numbers.

Yusuf Pathan has been adjudged the Player Of The Tournament! Here's what he has to say: To be honest I didn't get to practice for a couple of months, I was busy with election work. Once I came here, I practiced, and after 3 games, Yuvraj met me and told me I had a very important role - to adapt and play, if needed play free, and play for the team. That's what I tried to implement. We all know Pakistan is a great team, the ball reverses and they have quality fast bowlers. Our families have come along here, this was really special to play cricket in front of them. We lost and won in front of them, lots of things to learn and a lot of memories to take away. Everyone's an international here - the tournament was really well organized, our owners looked after us really well. The players played with that energy and played competitively. The fans were great as well, supported us right through it. The tournament was great, hope it remains the same in the upcoming editions.

Ambati Rayudu has been adjudged Player Of The Match! Here's what he has to say: The quality of cricket has been tremendous. Wasn't the best of starts, Yuvi paa, Bhajju pa the way they handled the team, all the naughty ones, myself, Raina, it was naughty from us this tournament, but Yuvi paa guided us well. fantastic tournament, we really enjoyed it. Special mention to the crowd, they were fantastic. Watch the ball, just play sensibly was the message. We tried to do that, I lost the wicket when I wasn't supposed to. 

Match summary:

India Champions win by 5 wickets with 5 balls to spare

Ambati Rayudu 50 (30) | Anureet Singh 3/43 (4)
Shoaib Malik 41 (36) | Aamer Yamin 2/29 (3)

India Champions needed a solid start from one of their top-order batters to get their chase underway, and it came along from the man who was yet to deliver a big knock in the tournament. Ambati Rayudu took the game by the scruff of the neck and went on the charge even as the India Champions lost Robin Uthappa and Suresh Raina halfway into the powerplay - both being accounted for by Aamer Yamin.

Gurkeerat Singh Mann gave Rayudu good company as the duo went on to raise the team fifty within a quarter of the innings. Rayudu kept going along at a steady rate even after the powerplay - he was severe against any err in line or length as Gurkeerat played second fiddle to him. India Champions kept finding the odd boundary almost every over, and were able to keep up with the required rate comfortably.

Pakistan Champions managed to find a way back in the game once they accounted for Rayudu right after he reached his own half-century. Gurkeerat Singh Mann followed soon after, and India Champions needed all the experience of Yuvraj Singh and Yusuf Pathan to keep going. The duo proceeded to milk the singles, Yusuf found and cleared the boundary on occasions, and the Pakistan Champions did not help themselves one bit by shelling a couple of sitters going into the slog overs.

Yuvraj and Yusuf proceeded to take the game really deep, but the fact that they brought the required rate down to under six meant that the pressure never really got to them. Yusuf wanted to finish things off in the penultimate over - he cleared the boundary once, tried to go again but holed out. It was his brother who applied the finishing touches - clubbing Tanvir down the ground, and the celebrations broke out amongst the India Champions camp right away.

An Indian men's team triumph over a Pakistani men's team in a final of a T20 competition - where have we seen this before? Fittingly, the duo which played an integral part in India's 2007 T20 World Cup title were there to finish this off this time!

19.1 Sohail Tanvir to Irfan Pathan, FOUR! Irfan Pathan finishes it off in style and the India Champions are the winners of the inaugural edition of the World Championship of Legends. In the slot around the middle stump, Irfan waits for it and smokes this down the ground, a few bounces and off to the fence it goes. 

18.6 Wahab Riaz to Irfan Pathan, low full toss on the pads, Irfan misses out on the flick, off his pads down towards the on side and a single taken. The India Champions need 2 more runs from 6 deliveries. 

18.6 Wahab Riaz to Irfan Pathan, this is poor from Wahab Riaz. Pace-off fuller-length delivery angling down leg, Irfan tries to paddle that away towards fine leg, doesn't make contact and it has been called a wide. 

18.5 Wahab Riaz to Irfan Pathan, play and a miss. On a length around the middle stump channel, Irfan swipes across the line and was a bit early into the shot, gets beaten. 

18.2 Wahab Riaz to Yusuf Pathan, WICKET! The slower delivery does the trick on this occasion and the Pakistan Champions are just about hanging by a thread. On a fullish-length around middle, Yusuf was always looking for the big shot. A bit early into the attempted swipe across the line, didn't quite nail that and the deep midwicket fielder doesn'tt make a mistake. 

Yusuf Pathan c Sohaib Maqsood b Wahab Riaz 30 (16b, 1x4, 3x6)

18.1 Wahab Riaz to Yusuf Pathan, SIX! That should be the game for the India Champions. Yusuf clears his front leg and launches this length delivery a shade outside off, over long off and comfortably clears the fence.