In a decisive performance, South Africa’s Champions defeated Pakistan by nine wickets in the World Championship of Legends final held at Edgbaston, Birmingham, on Saturday evening.
After winning the toss, Pakistan opted to bat first and posted a score of 195 for five in their allotted 20 overs.
Sharjeel Khan played a crucial role in the innings, scoring 76 runs off 44 balls.
Umar Amin and Asif Ali also contributed to the team’s total with scores of 36 and 28 runs, respectively, while South African bowlers Hardus Viljoen and Wayne Parnell combined for four wickets.
During the chase, AB de Villiers led from the front for South Africa.
He dominated the Pakistan bowling attack, finishing with an impressive 120 not out from just 60 balls.
This marked his third century of the tournament, and with a total of 429 runs throughout, he earned both the player of the match and player of the series accolades.
JP Duminy, contributing with a quickfire half-century off 28 deliveries, hit the winning runs, sealing the victory over Pakistan with more than three overs remaining.
De Villiers expressed gratitude to his teammates, stating, “To the boys out here, I want to thank every one of them for their commitment. We all know it’s not a big men’s world cup but they came here and decided to take it seriously. We wanted to be competitive out there, we wanted to make South Africa proud and hopefully the people who witnessed this back home are proud of us cos we gave it our absolute best.”
For some supporters of the Proteas, this decisive victory at Edgbaston, coupled with their one-run triumph over Australia in the semi-final, serves as a form of redemption for South Africa’s notorious loss in the World Cup semi-final against the same team in 1999.
In addition to the trophy, South Africa’s Legends team secured more than R3 million in prize money.
South Africa Champions take
home the World Championship of Legends 2025✨ #worldchampionshipoflegends #WCL2025 pic.twitter.com/4MeAjpX7Wu— World Championship Of Legends (@WclLeague) August 2, 2025
