On 3rd April 2016 all eyes were fixed on the World Cup T20 final night-match which was held at Kolkata between two semifinalists namely England and West Indies after having won the Qualifier matches with New Zealand and India respectively. It was only in the last ball that the entire audience was held free from the clutches of suspense and excitement. With the winning shot in the last ball MN Samuels later dedicated the victory to the legend Shane Warne. The thrill and the excitement at short notice is T-20’s specialty. Having made the Finals, the West Indies were too confident to entertain a reasonable doubt. Let us take a dive into the pool of highlights provided below:
England Innings
- The first hint of England’s defeat manifested with the loss of JJ Roy in the very second ball of the inning. 8 runs later AD Hales was made to leave the field by Russell scoring only 1 run in 3 balls. Morgan was dismissed in 5 by the apt googly of Badree.
- The 3rd batsman in the order JE Root held steady in the field making an outstanding half century in just 33 balls. England managed to score first 50 runs in 8.4 overs maintaining the strike rate around 6. Another 50 runs were added to the England’s credit and they were 100-4 in 12.5 overs.
- JC Butler and Stokes played an average inning and were forced to leave the pitch at 36 and 13 runs respectively. The fantastic inning of JE Root came to an end, making 54 runs for the team. Willey and Plunkett could not contribute much to the score and made 21 and 4 runs respectively.
- In the fall of 9 wickets, England scored a total of 155 runs in 20 overs with CJ Jordan and AU Rashid not out on the crease.
West Indies Innings
- The target of 156 runs from 20 overs at the run rate of 7.76 was challenging owing to the winning pressure that too in a T-20 World Cup Final. The opening batsmen were J Charles and the IPL’s most favorite player Chris Gayle. But unfortunately their batting did not hit the needle and they were waved off the field in first two overs itself. Both bowled by Roots and caught by Stokes.
- Then was the time for the real game-changer MN Samuels stepped onto the pitch. The non-striker LMP Simmons was hit by lbw and had to leave Samuels on the needful hour. DJ Bravo was the next player that held and supported Samuels for a little while and made 25 runs off 27 balls. Russell and Sammy did not stay put and left the field with embarrassment.
- It was Brathwaite’s partnership with Samuels that changed the face of the present situation and hauled the team to victory.
Samuels hit the winning shot and totaled 161 runs to West Indies’ credit and became the T20 World Cup Champions for the second time. He was awarded Player of the Match award.
