On Wednesday, October 16, Southern Superstars defeated Konark Suryas Odisha in the super over, to win the Legends League Cricket (LLC) 2024 title at the Bakshi Stadium in Srinagar. The Kedar Jadhav-led Southern Superstars, who put up a formidable total of 164 runs on the board with the help of a Hamilton Masakadza fifty, managed to tie the final in the face of Yusuf Pathan’s power-hitting blitz with the bat for Konark Suryas Odisha.
After winning the toss, Irfan Pathan, the captain of Konark Suryas Odisha decided to field first, and his decision paid instant dividends as Southern Superstars opener Shreevats Goswami was dismissed without troubling the scorers by Diwesh Pathania. But then, for the second wicket, Martin Guptill and Hamilton Masakadza stitched together a 76-run stand in 57 balls, to put their team in a strong position at the halfway stage of their innings.
Hamilton Masakadza's 83 off 58 helped Southern Superstars reach competitive total of 164/6
Following the dismissal of Martin Guptill for 27 off 25, Hamilton Masakadza kept the momentum of the Southern Superstars innings going alongside Pawan Negi, who scored 33 off 24. These two batters shared a 68-run stand in 44 balls for the fourth wicket before Pawan Negi lost his wicket, following which Hamilton Masakadza batted till the last over, to score 83 off 58 with eight fours and five maximums, to help propel his team’s total to 164/6 in their allotted overs after Dilshan Munaweera picked up figures of 4/9 in his three-over spell.
In the run chase, Konark Suryas Odisha had a poor start as they lost their first three wickets inside the power play overs as the likes of Richard Levi, Dilshan Munaweera, and the captain Irfan Pathan were dismissed cheaply. This put Konark Suryas Odisha in quite some trouble at 40/3 after six overs, needing a further125 runs in just 84 balls on a pitch which provided more than enough assistance to the Southern Superstars bowlers.
Yusuf Pathan's 85 off 38 helped Konark Suryas Odisha to tie the LLC 2024 final
Konark Suryas Odisha kept losing wickets at regular intervals after the powerplay stage, but Yusuf Pathan, who made his arrival to the crease at number six, struck a few lusty blows, to keep his team in the contest. Ultimately, he ended up scoring 85 off 38 with six fours and eight maximums before getting run out on the last ball of the innings while attempting a second run, which led to the final ending in a tie.
In the super over, Konark Suryas Odisha scored 13/1 before Southern Superstars were able to chase it down with 14/1 in five balls, which led to the latter securing the LLC 2024 title.
