In a thrilling inaugural match of the Legends League Cricket (LLC), Asia Lions — led by Shahid Afridi — secured a decisive victory over India Maharajas, captained by Gautam Gambhir in Doha on Friday.

The Lions, while batting first, set a decent 166-run target at a loss of six wickets in 20 overs. Seasoned campaigner Misbahul Haq top scored for the side, smashing 73 off 50 balls, followed by Upul Tharanga (20) and Afridi (12).

In their pursuit, the Maharajas featuring former top greats like Mohammad Kaif, Suresh Raina and Yousuf Pathan struggled to score big as only the skipper stood out with a top score of 54, followed by 25 and 22 of Murali Vijay and Kaif, respectively. The team scored 156 with a loss of eight wickets, falling short of nine runs.

For Lions, Sohail Tanvir turned out to be a leading wicket-taker with four scalps, followed by Isuru Udana, Dilshan, Perara and Razzaq bagging one wicket each. Skipper Afridi remained wicket-less.

Stuart Binny, Parvinder Awana dismissed two batsmen each, while Irfan Pathan and Ashok Dinda had mere one wicket each to their credit.

Misbahul Haq was named the man of the match for his blistering 73 that helped his team hammer the rivals.

Teams

Asia Lions: Shahid Afridi (C), Abdul Razzaq, Asghar Afghan, Abdur Razzak, TM Dilshan, P Khadka, Misbahul Haq, NLTC Perera, Sohail Tanvir, WU Tharanga and I Udana

India Maharajas: G Gambhir (C), M. Vijay, STR Binny, AB Dinda, Harbhajan Singh, M Kaif, IK Pathan, YK Pathan, SK Raina, PV Tambe, RV Uthappa

LLC features three teams — Asia Lions, India Maharajas and World Giants comprising former top players from the world.

The inaugural edition of the tournament commenced on March 10 and will continue till March 20.