What an exciting match it was last evening at Eden Garden in Kolkata. People witnessed a marvelous execution of batting performance when the West Indies team had nearly lost the match. Carlos Brathwaite miraculously turned the odds in favor of West Indies team by hitting four consecutive sixes in the last over of the innings.
West Indies won the toss and choose to field as they did against India in Semi finals. England team although played well during the first innings of the match but still they were unable to set a big target in front of their opponents. Dwayne Bravo and Carlos Brathwaite both an iconic bowlers of the West Indies team restricted team England to limited runs with thier bowling skills both taking three wickets each. West Indies had to chase an all total of 156 runs in 20 overs which the experts believe is not a tough target to achieve considering the kind of performance they showed during semi final.
It was because of David Wiley, which enable the team’s score to reach past the 150 mark scoring 21 in just 14 balls. During their innings, West Indies stumbled in first few overs loosing three major wickets with just 23 runs in their hand, which included major wickets like Gayle and Simmons. It was Samuels who stayed back in the pitch even though his mates were constantly retiring back to the pavilion.
At this point of the match, many believed that thus year’s ICC T20 World Cup winner is going to be England. During the innings West Indies team went through many ups and down and loosing wickets successively. With low run rates throughout the innings chasing such target ultimately become a tough one for the team. It was when Brathwaite came to the field and they both teamed up to score a partnership of 54 runs taking the team towards winning the world cup title.
Up until the last over many including the match prediction stated that England has more percentage of winning the ICC T20 World Cup 2016 title than West Indies. The bowlers from England had equally put a lot of pressure on West Indies batsman limiting them with just four or five runs in a over. Hardly the batsman were able to find a gap and take a clear shots to hit the ball to boundary. They gave a lot of tries but were not able to hit the target leaving their dreams unfulfilled.
Although the required run rate was quite high during last few overs but still there was a chance for West Indies team to win the match. Samuels and Brathwaite played very well in these last overs trying not to lose any wickets. It was when the last over came and they had to score 19 runs in 6 balls. Again, during this stage many believed that West Indies had already lost the title but as soon as Ben Stokes delivers the first ball Carlos Brathwaite let loose of his sledge hammer and hit a huge six of the boundary. And then again consecutive three sixes in next three balls. Unexpectedly winning the title for the second time in 2016.
