Greater Noida (Uttar Pradesh) [India], May 30: African Lions on Thursday secured an easy six-wicket win over the Asian Kings in the ongoing Intercontinental Legends Championship here at the Shaheed Vijay Singh Pathik Sports Complex in Greater Noida.

While the first match on Thursday was filled with a flurry of boundaries and sixes, the evening game was a slower one. Winning the toss and opting to bat first, the Asian Kings suffered an early setback in the third over when opener Parvez Aziz (8) was dismissed.

However, former Sri Lankan batsman and Lions' captain Tillakaratne Dilshan held firm at one end, but wickets continued to tumble at the other. Umang Sharma (31) tried to support Dilshan, but under pressure, Dilshan himself was dismissed in the sixth over for a personal score of 26 runs.

This led to the collapse of the entire team, with Imtiaz scoring a valuable 35 runs towards the end to guide the team to a respectable total of 138 runs.

Chasing the target under the captaincy of former South African star Herschelle Gibbs, African Lions' opener Rahul Yadav played a blistering knock of 54 runs, setting the tone for a one-sided match from the beginning.

He was well-supported by Shekhar Sirohi (22) and Shivam Sharma (21), and finally, Ali Murtaza's quickfire 18 runs off 5 balls sealed an easy win for the team in just 16.4 overs with 6 wickets remaining.

Chris Mpofu was awarded the Man of the match for his 3 wickets in 4 overs, conceding just 27 runs. The African Lions will now face the American Strikers in their next match on Friday at 7:00 PM.

On Friday, Euro Gladiators will lock horns with Trans Titans in the first match, while African Lions will meet American Strikers in the second game, which gets underway at 7:30 pm IST.

The Intercontinental Legends Championship (ILC), features 6 teams from 6 continents. The 6 teams are African Lions, Trans Titans (Australia and New Zealand), Euro Gladiators, American Strikers, Asian Kings and Indian Warriors. The six iconic teams represent six global regions.

The league stage concludes on June 3, paving the way for the semi-finals scheduled for June 4 at 3:30 PM and 7:30 PM, respectively. The grand finale will be held on June 5 at 7:30 PM. The League is organised by MVP Quest Private Limited and is managed by 100 Sports. (ANI)