The jam-packed Eden Gardens stadium in Kolkata deserved a thrilling game of cricket as it was set to host the finals of the T20 World Cup 2016 on April 3. Despite India not making the tournament decider, there was no dearth of energy in the crowd for the match between England and the West Indies. Winning the toss, WI skipper Darren Sammy invited the English team to bat first with the hope of getting early breakthroughs. And his bowlers did not disappoint.
Samuel Badree dismissed Jason Roy in the first over and Andre Russel followed it with the wicket of Alex Hales in the next over. Before England could realise it, they were down to 23/3 after the fall of Eoin Morgan in the fifth over.
The partnership between Joe Root and Joss Buttler attempted to give some stability to the innings as the duo stitched 51 runs for the fourth wicket. But with Buttler’s dismissal in the 12th over, England failed to regain the momentum.
Soon, Root was also sent back to the pavilion and England finished the innings with 155 runs on board.
West Indies’ reply was also marred with early jolts but Marlon Samuels held the innings together from one end. Taking the score from 11/3 in the third over, Samuels stitched a crucial partnership with Dwayne Bravo (25) before getting support from Carlos Braithwaite.
It all boiled down to the last over with WI needing 19 runs off the last six balls to claim their second T20 World Cup title. The hopes to win the second T20 World Cup for England were on the shoulders of Ben Stokes who went on to deliver the final over.
Stokes started the over with a half-volley on the leg stump on Braithwaite who made no mistake in depositing the ball in the stands towards the backward square leg region.
The right-hander followed it up with two more sixes to level the score. From 19 off 6, WI now needed only 1 off 3.
But Braithwaite decided to give the match a good photo finish and won West Indies their second title hitting another six over the midwicket.
And the icing on the cake was Ian Bishop, who was sitting in the commentary box, uttering the golden words: “Carlos Braithwaite, remember the name.”
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