Watch: Harbhajan Singh, Suresh Raina and others choose their Top three batsmen in world cricket
Published - 13 Jul 2024, 12:31 PM | Updated - 24 Aug 2024, 05:20 AM
Former India and Australian cricketers had a gala time on the sidelines of the World Championship of Legends. The tournament started on July 3 and will culminate with the final on July 13.
The final will be played between the India and Pakistan champions in Birmingham on Sunday. The match will start at 9.30 pm IST. India defeated the Australian champions by 86 runs in the second semi-final.
India scored a whopping 254/6 with contributions from Robin Uthappa (65) skipper Yuvraj Singh (59), Yusuf Pathan (51), and Irfan Pathan (50). The Australian in the chase could only muster 168/7 with former Australian skipper Tim Paine scoring an unbeaten 40* as he was the top-scorer of the tournament. The 86-run win helped India cement their spot in the final.
Pakistan Champions defeated the West Indies champions in the first semi-final. Pakistan scored 198/8 with Kamran Akmal scoring 46, skipper Younis Khan 65, and Sohail Tanvir 33. West Indies in their response were bowled out for 178 with no real contribution from any of the batters.
Pakistan won the match by 20 runs to set up the final clash with India. In many ways, it will be a rematch of the 2007 T20 World Cup final as many players who played in that match will be part of this final as well. Once again, an India-Pakistan game is set to be a final although in a much friendlier atmosphere.
Meanwhile, anchor Shefali Bagga, at the end of the match between India and Australia asked the veteran cricketers about their top three batters. Harbhajan Singh, Robin Uthappa, Suresh Raina, and Aaron Finch named their picks. Harbhajan named Jacques Kallis, Brian Lara, and Sachin Tendulkar as his picks.
Raina interestingly named Virat Kohli, Joe Root, and Rohit Sharma as his picks as he named three modern legends. Uthappa named Sir Vivian Richards, Brian Lara, and Sachin Tendulkar as his picks and lastly, Finch named Ricky Ponting, Sachin Tendulkar, and Brian Lara.
India, Australia Cricketers Choose Their Top 3 Batters
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Lara and Tendulkar were the two common picks that almost all of them picked up in the session. Meanwhile, while India and Pakistan are set to face off each other in this match, there are doubts over India's participation in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025.
There are reports that the Indian team will not travel to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy 2025. The BCCI might request the ICC to shift their matches to Sri Lanka or Dubai, ANI reported, quoting BCCI sources.
Pakistan are the host of the ICC Champions Trophy 2024 between February and March 2025. India and Pakistan have not played bilateral cricket and the Indian team has not visited Pakistan since the 2008 terror attacks.
The Indian government has not sent the national team to the country as they condemned those attacks. Since then the two teams have only been playing each other in ICC tournaments. Recently Pakistan lost to India in the T20 World Cup 2024.
In May, BCCI Vice-President Rajeev Shukla said that the Indian team would visit Pakistan for the tournament only if the Central government allowed it.
“In the case of the Champions Trophy, we will do whatever the Government of India tells us to do. We will send our team only when the Government of India permits. So we will go according to the decision of the Indian government,” Shukla told ANI.
Also Read: Pakistan legend reveals Sunil Gavaskar's role in Pakistan's 1992 World Cup victory
