Yuvraj and Yusuf turn back the clock with brilliant performances in Road Safety World Series T20 final

The first edition of the Road Safety World Series T20 saw India Legends emerge as the winners. India Legends defeated Sri Lanka Legends by 14 runs on Sunday in the final at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium. India Legends have been the most dominant team in the tournament and were favourites to win the title. And they did exactly that as several retired Indian players turned on the heat in the final.

The night belonged to two players. Yuvraj Singh and Yusuf Pathan blasted the bowlers all around the park as they stitched together an 85-run partnership to take India Legends' total to 181. Yuvraj departed after scoring 60 runs off 41 balls which included four sixes and as many fours.

However, Yusuf was the star of the final as he smashed an unbeaten 62 off 36 balls while also picking up 2 wickets for 26 in his four overs. The duo got a lot of praise on Twitter for their performances.

India Legends restricted Lanka to 167/7 in 20 overs, chasing a target of 182.

Sanath Jayasuriya scored the highest 43 while captain Tillakaratne Dilshan failed to click this time, scoring just 21.

Earlier, Yuvraj Singh and Yusuf went on a rampage by slamming half-centuries to see India Legends put up a challenging total of 181 for the loss of four wickets in 20 overs.

Yuvraj got an entertaining 60 off 41 balls with four boundaries and as many sixes while Yusuf remained unbeaten on 62 in 36 balls with four hits to the ropes and five sixes.

Other than the two big men, captain Tendulkar got a classy 30 which included five boundaries.

For Lankans, none of the bowlers were impressive as Rangana Herath, Sanath Jayasuriya, Farveez Maharoof and Kaushalya Weeraratne took one wicket each.

The tournament's leading wicket-taker and Sri Lanka's match-winner Dilshan returned empty-handed, giving away 25 runs in two overs.

India got an unexpected slow start to the innings. They lost their first wicket in the third over itself. Virender Sehwag was bowled by Rangana Hearth while going for a big shot after hitting the left-arm spinner out of the park in the previous ball.

In the next over, Tendulkar swept Dilshan for back-to-back boundaries, taking back the control before S Badrinath was out leg before wicket to the left-arm orthodox of Sanath Jayasuriya.

Coming next, Yuvraj got a classy boundary on the on-off Dhammika Prasad before the two went silent for the next few overs.

Once Dilsan came in, Yuvraj smacked Dilshan for two sixes and by the end of 10th over India were 77 for two. In the 11th over, Maharoof got the scalp of Tendulkar who went for a lose shot that went into the hands of wicket-keeper Upul Tharanga.

Post Tendulkar's wicket, the two big hitters went on a rampage where they executed some big shots whenever it was pitched in their zone that left Sri Lanka hapless and helpless.

In the 16th over, Yuvraj and Yusuf hit Prasad for 22 that had two sixes and as many fours. Yusuf followed it with three sixes in the next over of Kulasekara.

A while later Yuvraj was dismissed by Kaushalya Weeraratne in the 19th over, but it was enough for Yusuf with brother Irfan to take the team past 180.

Brief scores: India Legends 181/4 in 20 overs (Yusuf Pathan 62*, Yuvraj Singh 60, Sachin Tendulkar 30) beat Sri Lanka legends 167/7 in 20 overs (Sanath Jayasuriya 43, Chinthaka Jayasinghe 40, Kausalya Weeraratne 38; Yusuf Pathan 2/26, Irfan Pathan 2/29) by 14 runs.

(with ANI inputs)