The T20 World Cup Cup, which was played at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata four years ago, it was a riveting contest between the two deserving teams of the tournament; West Indies and England. It was the second time that West Indies had excelled into the T20 World Cup finals. The last time they had qualified for a T20 World Cup finals, was in 2012 when they defeated the hosts, Sri Lanka to lift their maiden T20 World Cup title.
West Indies played against the tournament hosts in the semi-finals as they eliminated the home side India with 7 wickets remaining in hand by chasing a stiff target of 193 runs. Now the finals were slated to be played between them and England on April 3 at the Eden Garden in Kolkata.
After winning the toss, West Indies opted to bowl putting England into bat. England had a bad start to their innings, but with the help of Joe Root’s 54 runs and Jos Buttler’s 36-run knock, England reached a respected total of 155 runs. Starting the chase, West Indies’ openers Johnson Charles and Chris Gayle were bundled out cheaply. It was Marlon Samuels who scored 85 runs off 66 balls to revive the chase as his innings had nine fours and two sixes. The match went to the last over thriller.
As the match went close, West Indies needed 19 runs in the last over with Carlos Brathwaite into the strike. It was a thrilling last over as Braithwaite struck four consecutive sixes off Ben Stokes’ bowling, carrying his side to their second-ever T20 World Cup title. Brathwaite scored a blistering 34 runs off just 10 balls as his short yet deleterious innings helped the side in chasing the stiff 19 runs in the last over. After the victory, Marlon Samuels has adjudged the Player of the match for his crucial knock of 85* runs. It was a high-spirited performance from the West Indian side as they won their second title within four years.
Virat Kohli was called the Player of the tournament as he was the second-highest run-getter of the tournament, with 273 runs in five innings at a breathtaking average of 136.50. He also scored 89* against West Indies in the semi-finals.
