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Amid the electrifying atmosphere of the World Championship of Legends 2025, India Champions squared off against South Africa Champions on July 22. In the match played at County Ground in Northampton, South Africa Champions were asked to bat first. Their captain AB de Villiers, stole the limelight with an unbeaten 63 off 30 balls and a team total of 208/6 in 20 overs. Due to the DLS method, India had a target of 200 but they faltered badly and were handed a defeat by 88 runs.
Apart from his match-winning performance AB de Villiers also made a surprising revelation while naming his all-time World XI, which included two Indians but didn’t have explosive opener Rohit Sharma as an opener. On Wednesday, July 23, tournament presenter Shefali Bagga shared a video on Instagram in which de Villiers announced his picks. He named Graeme Smith and Matthew Hayden as the openers, followed by Ricky Ponting at no. three and Virat Kohli at no. 4. He slotted Steve Smith and Kan Williamson at number five and six respectively, and picked MS Dhoni as the wicketkeeper at no. seven. In the bowling lineup, de Villiers chose former Australian pacer Mitchell Johnson and Mohammad Asif, along with spinners Muttiah Muralitharan and late Shane Warne. He named Glenn McGrath as the 12th man.
Rohit Sharma is known as ‘Hitman’ due to his explosive opening batting
Considered as one of the best opening batters for India, Rohit Sharma is fondly known as ‘Hitman’ by his peers and fans. This title explains the kind of explosive and quickfire batting he does while opening for the Indian Cricket team. As an opener, Rohit has amassed more than 15,585 runs in international cricket (Test+ODI+T20I), with an average of 45.17 scoring 44 hundreds and 80 fifties. Rohit recently announced his retirement from Test cricket, following his retirement from T20Is last year after India’s triumph at T20 World Cup.
In the World Championship of Legends’ match between ndia Champions and South Africa Champions, the latter powered by de Villiers’ blistering knock and a disciplined bowling effort led by Imran Tahir (1/18) and Wayne Parnell (2/2), had just outclassed India Champions. India, led by Yuvraj Singh, struggled in their chase of 209, finishing at 111/9 in a rain-affected match decided by the DLS method. Stuart Binny’s unbeaten 37 was a lone bright spot for India, who were undone by early wickets and de Villiers’ stunning fielding. The catch, a viral moment where de Villiers flicked the ball mid-slide to Sarel Erwee, epitomized his enduring brilliance at 41.
