Exactly a couple of years ago, during the final of the ICC World Twenty20 2016 between England and West Indies at Mumbai, West Indies beat England by 4 wickets to win the title. Having won the title earlier in 2012, West Indies became the first team to win the World Twenty20 twice.
Darren Sammy, the then West Indian T20I captain, had won the toss and chose to field. Samuel Badree and Andre Russell were successful in removing the dangerous English opening pair of Jason Roy (0) and Alex Hales (0). On the fourth delivery of the fifth over, English captain Eoin Morgan (5) failed to read a Badree googly and handed a simple catch to Chris Gayle at slip. By the end of the powerplay, England had scored a disappointing 33-3.
It was at this point in time that Joe Root and Jos Buttler (36) joined hands to stitch a 61-run partnership. England’s chances of putting on board a substantial total were further hit when Dwayne Bravo dismissed Ben Stokes (13) and Moeen Ali (0) in the same over. Entering the last five overs, England’s total had reached 115-7. David Willey‘s 14-ball 21 saw them scoring a respectable 155-9 in 20 overs. Root top-scored for them with 54 (37). His innings comprised of seven boundaries.
With bowling figures of 4-0-23-3, Carlos Brathwaite was the pick of the West Indian bowlers.
In a surprising turn of events, Root took the new ball for England alongside Willey. What further grasped the attention of the cricketing fraternity was the fact that Root had the better of the West Indian openers in his first over itself. Caught Stokes and bowled Root saw the demise of Johnson Charles (1) and Chris Gayle (4). Lendl Simmons, who had bailed out West Indies in the semi-final against India, departed in the next over without scoring.
The experienced duo of Marlon Samuels and Bravo provided some calmness and stability to the West Indian batting order. In the first 10 overs, West Indies had scored 54-3. They needed another 102 runs in the next 10 overs in a bid to win the match. Substitute fielder Sam Billings dropping Bravo off Stokes in the 13th over was perhaps the luck that the batting team needed, but not for too long.
In the following over, Adil Rashid finally sent Bravo (25) back to the pavilion. Samuels hit a four and a couple of sixes off Liam Plunkett in the next over and reduced the equation to 52 runs in the last five overs. England once again pulled back the opposition as Willey dismissed Russell (1) and Darren Sammy (2) in the same over. A couple of pinpoint overs from Chris Jordan saw West Indies needing 19 runs off the last over.
With the ball in the hands of Stokes, England went into the last over with the upper hand on the trophy. However, what followed will be remembered for years to come. Brathwaite hit Stokes for four consecutive towering sixes as his brilliance won his team the World Cup. Within a span of four deliveries, an English dream was broken to pieces. ‘Man of the Match’ Samuels top-scored for West Indies with 85* (66).
Watch the highlights of the match:
