RAIPUR – Am­bati Rayudu struck a scin­til­lat­ing half-cen­tu­ry to lead In­dia Mas­ters to a com­fort­able six-wick­et vic­to­ry over the West In­dies Mas­ters to claim the in­au­gur­al In­ter­na­tion­al Mas­ters League (IML) ti­tle in In­dia on Sun­day.

Lendl Sim­mons scored 57 off 41 balls with five fours and a six, while Dwayne Smith made 45 off 35 balls in­clu­sive of six fours and two six­es, as the West In­dies Mas­ters post­ed 148 for sev­en off their 20 overs at the Sha­heed Veer Narayan Singh In­ter­na­tion­al Sta­di­um.

Vinay Ku­mar (3-26) and Shah­baz Nadeem (2-12) de­liv­ered im­pres­sive spells to help re­strict the vis­i­tors af­ter they were sent in to bat.

Rayudu then starred with a bril­liant 74 off 50 balls, with nine fours and three six­es, as In­dia Mas­ters cruised to 149 for four in 17.1 overs.

Sachin Ten­dulkar scored 25 at the top of the or­der, while Yu­vraj Singh and Stu­art Bin­ny fin­ished on 13 not out and 16 not out re­spec­tive­ly, to see the home side over the fin­ish line.

Ash­ley Nurse was the pick of the West In­dies bowlers with 2-22.

CMC