Legends League Cricket: Yusuf Pathan to lead India Maharajas in unfit Mohammad Kaif's absence

Former India all-rounder Yusuf Pathan stood in for an unfit Mohammad Kaif as captain of India Maharajas in the final league game of the ongoing Legends League Cricket in Oman.

Kaif has led the team in all three encounters thus far but has been forced to sit out with an injury in a must-win affair for his team, as the Maharajas, positioned at the last position on the table with two losses in three games, need a victory by a considerable margin against the World Giants to displace second-placed Asia Lions. A loss on January 27 will knock them out of the tournament to set up a Giants versus Lions finale on January 29.

The Kaif-led Maharajas started the tournament with an emphatic six-wicket win over Asia Lions when Yusuf Pathan’s heroic 40-ball 80 helped them gun down the 175-run target with five balls to spare in the tournament opener.

However, they slipped to a three-wicket loss in the subsequent encounter against Daren Sammy’s Giants despite setting a mammoth 209/3 on the back of Naman Ojha’s 140-run blinder. Despite having the game under control for the larger part, the Maharajas were let down by lax fielding, undisciplined bowling and a dramatic lower-order counterattack led by Imran Tahir’s 19-ball 52 that launched Giants past the line.

The downfall for Maharajas continued thereafter, with Asia Lions avenging their defeat with a 36-run victory in the two team’s meeting on January 24. The Maharajas’ bowlers were on the receiving end of some powerful stroke-making of Upul Tharanga and Asghar Afghan, whose dominant 72 and 69 respectively took the Lions to 193/4 before the bowlers restricted Kaif and Co. to 157/8, with none of the Maharajas’ batter crossing 35.

As it stands, the Giants sit atop with four points in three games and have one hand on the finale berth barring an improbable mathematical equation denying them, while the Lions, with two wins and as many losses in four encounters, are placed second.

Meanwhile, the inaugural edition of the Legends League Cricket has been a grand success, with a plethora of former legends and retired cricketers getting back into cricketing action.