Road Safety World Series: Who won the last edition?

The Road Safety World Series was first introduced in 2020-21 to create awareness about road safety. Sunil Gavaskar was the commissioner of the league, while Sachin Tendulkar was chosen as the brand ambassador of the tournament. As many as seven countries participated in the tournament – India, England, Sri Lanka, West Indies, South Africa, Australia and Bangladesh.

Wankhede Stadium, DY Patil Stadium and MCA Stadium were the designated venues for the tournament. The league stage games were played in a round-robin format and the top four sides made into the semi-finals. The tournament, which started in March 2020, had to be postponed after just four games due to the arrival of Covid-19.

After a year, the remainder of the tournament was shifted to Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Cricket Stadium in Raipur. The Australian legends opted out due to the travel restrictions imposed. After resumption, each team played six games with four teams – India Legends, Sri Lanka Legends, South Africa Legends, and West Indies Legends – making into the semi-finals as England Legends missed out narrowly by just the run rate difference.

In the knockout stages, India beat the West Indies while Sri Lanka got the better of South Africa. In the all-important finals, India and Sri Lankan L met each other, and the Sachin Tendulkar-led side batted first. Quickfire half centuries from Yuvraj Singh and Yusuf Pathan meant that the Indian Legends posted a massive total of 181 for 4 in the first innings.

Chasing the score, the openers provided a blazing start, however, wickets kept tumbling in the middle order and Kaushalya Weeratne’s heroic innings were not enough for Sri Lanka Legends as they fell short by 14 runs in the end. India Legends clinched the maiden title and Tilakaratne Dilshan picked up the Player of the Series award for his all-round brilliance.