NEW YORK: At a festive Citi Field on Saturday afternoon, Warne’s Warriors proved too strong for Sachin’s Blasters as they romped to a six-wicket win the first All Stars Twenty20 match.
Australian spin king Shane Warne and Indian batting legend Sachin Tendulkar skippered two star-studded teams in a match designed to introduce Americans to what organisers billed as the world’s second most popular sport.
Tendulkar was given a standing ovation by a largely South Asian expatriate crowd as Pakistani and Indian cricket fanatics enjoyed a balmy autumn day with both adversarial enthusiasts waving flags of each country and shouting slogans for their respective players.
Pakistan pace legend Wasim Akram featured for Warriors with speedster Shoaib Akhtar and wicket-keeper Moin Khan playing for Blasters in the first match with further games in Houston and Los Angeles.
But it was Wasim’s side that won despite a show of exhilarating speed from Shoaib who picked up two wickets for the Blasters.
Set a target of 141, the Warriors romped home with 16 balls to spare after Ricky Ponting and Kumar Sangakkara hit 81 runs between them.
Warne earlier snared three wickets, including that of Tendulkar and the legendary Brian Lara to take the man-of-the-match award.
For the Blasters, Virender Sehwag hit the series’ first half-century off just 22 deliveries.
Electing to field after winning the toss, the Warriors were given a rollicking start by Tendulkar and Sehwag with the former Indian opening pair raking in 85 runs in a mere 48 deliveries.
However, the rest of the star-studded line-up failed to come good and the team ended at 140-8 as Warne showed that he had lost none of the famed magic with figures of 3-20.
In reply, Ponting (48 not out) and Sangakkara (41) steered the Warriors home after a top-order collapse.
Warne and Tendulkar billed the game as a way to promote cricket in the US and will be doing cricket clinics for young children as well as inviting women cricketers to their practice sessions as well.
AFP adds: Warne told reporters that 36,000 people had packed into the 41,000-seat Citi Field — home of the New York Mets baseball team — for the game.
“I thought it was fantastic, the atmosphere was amazing,” he said. “The music, crowd, atmosphere — it was nothing not to like. How could you not enjoy that experience today? It was fantastic.”
At the end, the players lapped the pitch, waving and applauding the crowd, which Tendulkar compared to the home crowd at the Mets’ World Series.
“The whole idea of Cricket All Stars is that, to try to get as many nations together to celebrate this,” Tendulkar said. “It was electrifying.”
Published in Dawn, November 9th, 2015
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