A rapid fifty from Yuvraj Singh and a four-wicket haul from Shahbaz Nadeem helped India Masters overcome the Australia Masters by 94 runs in the semifinal of the International Masters League 2025 in Raipur on Thursday.
The Sachin Tendulkar-led team will face the winner of the second semifinal between Sri Lanka Masters and West Indies Masters to be played in the same venue tomorrow.
After being put into bat, India lost Ambati Rayudu early when an arm-ball from Steve O’Keefe sped past the batter’s attempted cut. Tendulkar rolled back the years to show glimpses of his nimble footwork to help India collect a few boundaries in the PowerPlay.
AS IT HAPPENED | INDIA MASTERS VS AUSTRALIA MASTERS HIGHLIGHTS
Yuvraj attacked from ball one, hitting seven sixes during his 30-ball 59, lofting spinners over the legside with ease. A 47-run partnership between him and the Master Blaster put India Masters in control before contributions from Yusuf Pathan and Stuart Binny helped the team post a formidable total of 220 for seven.
Australia never got going in the chase, with Vinay Kumar scalping Shane Watson and Shaun Marsh early to dent the Aussies chances. Nadeem ran through the middle-order with some stump-to-stump bowling.
Ben Cutting’s 30-ball 39 managed to delay the inevitable before Irfan Pathan picked the last two wickets to seal the deal in the penultimate over.
