Road Safety World Series 2022 Semi Final 2: Sri Lanka Legends vs West Indies Legends Match Report

The second semi-final of the Road Safety World Series 2022 was played between West Indies Legends and Sri Lanka Legends on Friday at Raipur. West Indies Legends captain Brian Lara called it correctly at the toss and invited Sri Lanka to bat first. Sri Lankan opener Mahela Udawatte and Sanath Jayasuriya walked out to the middle to give a blistering start to their team.

West Indies Legends struck early as Darren Powell removed Udawatte with the score on 26. Jayasuriya also followed him soon, falling prey to Krishmar Santokie. After Jayasuriya’s wicket, Sri Lanka had a dramatic collapse as they were reduced to 83/5 after 10.2 overs.

Ishan Jayaratne and Jeevan Mendis provided some stability to the innings, adding 37 runs in 21 balls. But their partnership didn’t last long as they were dismissed for 31 and 25 respectively. Sri Lanka were in big trouble at 127/7 after 14.5 overs and reaching the 150-mark looked like a distant dream. However, some useful cameos from the tailenders took them to 172 in their allotted 20 overs.

The West Indies legends openers Brian Lara and Dwayne Smith walked out with their eyes set on the target. Lara playing some scintillating shots up front sending the ball to the boundary rope on four occasions. However, his stay at the crease didn’t last long as he was bowled by Nuwan Kulasekara. Lara’s dismissal brought Narsingh Deonarine at the crease who looked determined to take his team to the finals.

West Indies suffered a collapse as they went from 65/1 to 68/4 losing three wickets in seven balls. Deonarine took up the responsibility of bringing his team back into the game as he began scoring boundaries. However, he didn’t get much support from his teammates who kept on perishing at the other end.

Deonarie finally fell at the score of 141/6 after 17.3 overs with his team needing another 32 runs from 15 balls. He played a brilliant innings of 63 off 39 balls. It was too much work left for the West Indies tail who succumbed to pressure. Sri Lanka emerged victorious winning the match by 14 runs and, thereby, sealed the place in the final.

The final of Road Safety World Series 2022 will be played between India Legends and Sri Lanka Legends today at Raipur. India Legends won the inaugural edition of the tournament last year after beating Sri Lanka legends in the final.