The third and final T20 match of the Cricket All-Stars series produced a run feast at Dodgers stadium in Los Angeles where Warne's Warriors defeated Sachin's Blasters by four wickets in a close affair. With it, the Warriors clinched the series 3-0 as well.
The Blasters, who batted first in a pitch where the ball was coming onto the bat, got off to a brilliant start with Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag destroying the Warriors bowlers. Sehwag scored 27 runs from 15 balls and got the spectators on their feet with some sensational hitting.
The Blasters' score read 55 when they lost Sehwag in the fourth over the game, but the Nawab of Najafgarh had already provided a perfect platform for the rest of the batsmen to score a mammoth total.
Other batsmen such as Tendulkar, Mahela Jayawardene, Carl Hooper and Sourav Ganguly contributed with the bat to help Blasters score an incredible 219 runs. Ganguly and Tendulkar scored 50 and 56 runs, respectively, while Hooper scored a crucial 33 runs.
With a target of 220, the Warriors were required to get off to a brilliant start; unfortunately Michael Vaughan lost his wicket on the first ball of the innings to Curtly Ambrose. However, with batsmen such as Andrew Symonds and Matthew Hayden, the Warriors were still in the hunt.
Symonds clicked instantly, as he began to thrash bowlers all round the park with brute force, but the Blasters got back into the game with two quick wickets. Warriors, who lost Symonds and Hayden in succession, found themselves in a spot of bother with three wickets down for 52 runs.
Kumar Sangakkara walked into the batting crease and played a gem of an innings, scoring 42 runs from 21 balls, which increased the Warriors' chances of winning. After Sanga's dismissal, Ponting and Kallis proved their class with some brilliant hitting.
They were required to score 66 runs from 24 balls, which seemed like a gigantic task. Kallis and Ponting unleashed an array of big shots to help the Warriors reach the total with a ball to spare.
Kallis, who was dismissed in the 20th over, scored 47 runs from 23 balls, while Ponting finished with 43 from 25 balls.
The Warriors scored 26 runs in the 18th over, which was a pivotal moment in the match, helping the Warriors beat the Blasters for the third consecutive time in the series.
Irrespective of the result, the All-Stars series, which included a galaxy of former greats, has provided us plenty of memories for years to come.
