The West Indies scripted an incredible win to lift the ICC World Twenty20 title, beating Sri Lanka comprehensively.
SCORECARD
By Jaideep Ghosh in Colombo
Sri Lanka’s sordid history of not being able to make it count in the big match came back to haunt them. Having restricted the West Indies to just 137, they were well on their way to an elusive final win. Till they lost their way, their heads and the crown, in one horrible slide.
Sri Lanka ended at 101 in 18.4 unbelievable overs. West Indies skipper Darren Sammy’s promise to spoil the hosts party was true to the hilt.
No one would have given the West Indies even half a chance at the break. This is, after all, Sri Lanka’s own turf. The pitch, the conditions, the crowd, everything was tilted overwhelmingly in their favour. The only thing that wasn’t was their batting.
Very frankly, it was poor, poor batting in the middle overs that did them in. Three batsmen – Kumar Sangakkara, Angel Mathews and Mahela Jayawardene must take the blame for not keeping their heads, or executing poorly, as they went out at crucial stages.
Even the early loss of Tillekeratne Dilshan wasn’t so much of a disadvantage when Sri Lanka started their chase. Jayawardene and Sangakkara, the senior statesmen of the team, were pretty comfortable against the West Indian attack that was willing but not acid.
But a long hop off Samuel Badree saw Sangakkara go, and the floodgates seemed to open. Mathews tried a scoop and lost his stumps to Darren Sammy’s innocuous stuff and then Jayawardene too played a reverse sweep, to Sammy of Sunil Narine.
Panic was then the flavor of the moment. The West Indies bowled straight and fielded with fire. They have always been superb athletes and both Jeevan Mendis and Thisara Perera were found short of the crease.
Nuwan Kulasekara was valiant in his defiance, scoring 26 at a strike rate of 200, with three boundaries and a six. But it was too good to last.
The crowd was in a shock. This was Sri Lanka’s match to lose and that is exactly what they did. Four World Cup or equivalent finals in five years, and no silverware. This island nation would be in tatters after this.
The West Indies inning can be clearly divided into two halves. There were the first ten overs, when they scored only 32 runs and then the next ten, where 105 runs accrued. In fact, the last nine overs went at 11 apiece as Samuels found the middle of the bat, finally.
But the first ten overs were a far cry from any West Indian effort ever. The Power Play overs got just 16 runs with the batsmen just not being able to score. After losing Johnson Charles in the first over to Angelo Mathews, they’d still have thought that a decent score was on the cards.
After all, Chris Gayle was at the crease, with Samuels, Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard to follow.
None of that worked. They found the bowling in general and Ajantha Mendis in particular, pretty tough to handle.
Playing sheet-anchor isn’t quite Gayle’s game, since he works best when he goes for it. But on Sunday, the Sri Lankans made him grind and poke, with no width on offer. One such dab saw him miss the line off Mendis and fall lbw.
Mendis bowled a great spell, but a couple of farewell gifts from Simon Taufel made his figures look way better than they may have been. Bravo was given out lbw off the inside edge and then Andre Russell also got a bad one, lbw off the gloves.
The Australian, officiating in his last match, was hoping for a good game. It wasn’t good, least of all or the West Indies.
But while all this was on, Samuels was clubbing the ball everywhere. His made the most of a reprieve at 20, when Nuwan Kulasekara dropped him at long-off.
He went after Lasith Malinga as if the bowler was going out of fashion. Some incredible shots, including a flick off a yorker-length delivery, saw the batsman crash the fast bowler over the fence five times, including one that went 108 metres.
Malinga must be wondering if he was bowling in the same match. While the other bowlers were partying, he went for an incredible 54 runs off four overs.
Samuels was on song till he skied young Akila Dananjaya for Jeevan Mendis to take the catch. But his 78, off 56 balls with three fours and six sixes was what kept the West Indies in the game, tellingly so, as it emerged later.
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