Road Safety World Series 2022: India Legends and Bangladesh Legends share points as rain plays spoilsport

Dehradun, Sep 25: In a premature end to the last league game of the Dehradun leg of Road Safety World Series 2022, match number 18 of the Road Safety World Series 2022 was abandoned midway through the Indian innings chasing 122 here at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Sunday (September 25).

Chasing a target of 122, India Legends reached 29 for 1 in four overs before skies opened up and forced the play to be stopped. Naman Ojha was the only wicket to perish as the wicket-keeper batter was clean bowled by Abdur Razzak for 9.

Badrinath (1*) - who opened the innings for India Legends - and Suresh Raina (10*) were present in the middle and the duo kept waiting for the rain to stop. As no play was possible, the umpires had to officially call off the match and points were shared. It was also a big setback for the fans who had turned up in big numbers to watch Sachin Tendulkar & Co. play.

It was the Sachin Tendulkar-led side's last league match of the tournament and the hosts will now be seen in action during the semi-final. The Indian Legends were unlucky for they needed just one more over's play for the Duckworth Lewis/Stern Method to come into effect. The bandwagon from Dehradun will now move to Raipur - the capital city of Chhattisgarh - where the last leg of the tournament will be held at Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium.

Put in to bat first, Bangladesh Legends posted a below-par 121 for the loss of nine wickets. Tendulkar rotated his bowlers brilliantly as no Bangladeshi batter was allowed to score freely in the powerplay.

Karnataka pace duo of Abhimanyu Mithun and Vinay Kumar struck in the powerplay as Bangladesh Legends lost two wickets, Mehrab Hossain and Aftab Ahmed, cheaply inside the first six overs. The Indian bowlers kept the pressure on in the next four overs and the Bangladeshi middle-order batters could only reach 48 for the loss of four wickets inside 10 overs.

However, Dhiman Ghosh (23) held guard and his wicket intact as the Men in Green put up a valiant effort in the second half of the first innings as they added 72 runs in the last 10 overs. In the end, cameos from captain Mohammad Sharif (11), Dolar Mahmud (16*) and Abdur Razzak (13*) ensured the Bangladeshi bowlers had something to fight for.

For India, Pragyan Ojha was the pick of the bowlers as the left-arm spinner picked up three wickets from his quota of 4 overs and conceded 36 runs. Mithun (2/31) and Vinay Kumar (2/17) picked up two wickets apiece.

With this, Bangladesh Legends' journey in the tournament also came to an end and the Bangla Tigers remained winless.