Windies maul Australia to reach T20 WC finals

Australians were blown away by the Chris Gayle storm as West Indies thumped their way into their maiden World T20 final. After posting the first 200 plus score of the tournament, West Indians restricted the Kangaroos to a mere 131 in the second semi-final at the R. Premdasa stadium in Colombo on Friday.

 

Despite over a run-a-ball 63 by skipper George Bailey, the Australians could never recover after losing more than half the team before the team total reached 50. As the required run rate climbed every over, desperate strokes by the batsmen combined with some disciplined bowling made sure no real challenge was posed to the mammoth target.

 

Samuel Badree struck the initial blows while Sunil Narine, Ravi Rampaul and Kieron Pollard chipped away at the middle and lower order. Australians needed Warner and Watson to click and provide them the quickfire start, but Badree uprooted both their stumps in his first spell. They never recovered after that folding before the end of the 17th over.

 

Earlier,West Indies opener Johnson Charles did not last very long for his 10 runs and fell in the third over of the game to Mitchell Starc. After that, Chrish Gayle and Marlon Samuels carried the innings forward in a comparatively quiet manner while maintaining a rate of eight runs per over. After Samuels' (26) departure in the eighth over, Bravo played a useful hand hitting 37 off 31 balls which contained three sixes.

 

But they had reserved the best for the last five overs. A late assault by Kieron Pollard and Gayle ensured that the score reached 205 for the loss of four wickets. Before Pollard fell off the last ball of the innings, he had hit 38 off 15 balls which included three consecutive sixes hit off the last over by Xavier Doherty. Chrish Gayle was his usual self staying unbeaten at 75 off 41 balls with six sixes.

 

Gayle's comparatively low score despite staying till the end of the innings could be attributed to the fact that he faced only one-third of the total balls of the innings. Sixes (14) outnumbered the fours (13) in the first innings resulting in the huge total.

 

The last time West Indies made it to the finals of any ICC World Cup was in 1983 when they were beaten by Kapil-Dev led Indian team in the 50-over match at the Lord's in London. They will now face hosts Sri Lanka in the finals on Sunday at the same venue.