Carlos Brathwaite’s Epic 6, 6, 6, 6 Sequence: West Indies’ World T20 Triumph vs England
Carlos Brathwaite’s incredible feat of hitting four consecutive 6’s against England in the World T20 final led West Indies to a remarkable victory at Eden Gardens.
Carlos Brathwaite hit four straight sixes off Ben Stokes with 19 needed in the final over against England, and the West Indies won their second World Twenty20 title in an almost unbelievable manner.
England’s 155 for 9 (Root 54, Brathwaite 3-23, Bravo 3-37) was defeated by West Indies 161 for 6 (Samuels 85*, Brathwaite 34*, Willey 3-20) by four wickets.
Dismiss cricket from the West Indies at your own risk. With less than four months gone, 2016 is already a year of immense joy and rebirth for Caribbean cricket. World Cup winners under-19 were the West Indies. The Women’s World T20 was won by West Indies. The World T20 has now been won by the West Indies. With their victory in Sri Lanka in 2012, Darren Sammy‘s squad has now became the first to win two World T20 competitions.
These are the actual facts. The how is much more remarkable. West Indies needed to score 19 runs in the final over to defeat England and win the title, needing to be bowled by Ben Stokes. The man who had led the chase, Marlon Samuels, was on 85. He was, however, on the wrong end. Carlos Brathwaite, the all-round player who made waves during the Australian Test series a few months back, deserves all of this.
Six. Six. Six. Six. Task completed with two balls remaining. Stokes hit a bad ball that was hammered over deep backward square with his down leg. Then, over long-on, a length ball crashed into the earth. After that, over long-off. Just one run is required. Strike a single, please? When you can crunch another six over the leg side like Brathwaite, why even bother? Players from the West Indies poured onto the pitch in celebration. Not only had they done it. They had executed it elegantly.
And this from a club that was embroiled in yet another salary issue with their board in the weeks leading up to this tournament. For another day, though. The main focus of the day was on the field, where the West Indies controlled both the opening and closing overs of the game. Despite experiencing their own ups and downs along the process, England increased their chances of winning their second World T20 title by grabbing wickets during the chase.
Also Read: Reliving India’s 2007 T20 World Cup Triumph
Though Samuels was the one who chipped away at them for the most of the innings, Brathwaite was the one who crushed them in the end. After England had taken the surprise of the West Indies by using Joe Root with the new ball in the second over of the chase, Samuels came to the crease and duly claimed Chris Gayle and Johnson Charles in his first over. Like in 2012, Samuels had a ton of work to do, and he did it.
Samuels is a mysterious cricket player who appears to hibernate for extended periods of time. He appears like a Don’t Care Bear during those moments. But when he wakes up, he can do anything, as he demonstrated in the 2012 World T20 final when his 78 off 56 balls helped the West Indies defeat Sri Lanka. When he emerged from hibernation, he was a Kung Fu Panda, clubbing and kicking the bowlers of England.
And he accomplished it with little help. England bowled quite well. Adil Rashid was less than six an over, Liam Plunkett was difficult to get away from, and David Willey finished with three for twenty. The only other players to reach double digits were Samuels and Brathwaite, although Dwayne Bravo managed 25 from 27 balls. Brathwaite finished with a 34 off 10 balls without being out. Remarkably, Root took 2 for 9 in his first over and did not bowl another.
After four overs, West Indies needed to score forty-five, then thirty-eight, and finally twenty-seven. However, Eoin Morgan was left with only two bowling options: Stokes and Root. Sadly, Stokes was unable to meet the mark. West Indies have once again shown that chasing works; they won all of their tosses and bowled first in this competition.
When Darren Sammy won the toss and sent England in for the tenth time in a row in a Twenty20 international, you could feel his relief. Samuel Badree skidded ball number one past Jason Roy’s bat, striking him on the pad. Sliding down leg, not out.
In the second ball, Badree slipped it past Roy’s bat and onto the stumps. This was going to be a very different kind of innings from the one Roy had starred at 78 in England’s victory over New Zealand in the semi-final.
An anti-climax seemed to be building when Alex Hales flicked Andre Russell to short fine leg in the following over. Similarly, in the fifth over, Morgan, confused by Badree’s wrong’un, edged to Gayle at slip, bringing the total down to 23 for 3. However, Badree was bowled out with outstanding numbers of 2 for 16, and the game changed to more of a battle.
Notwithstanding wickets dropping all around him, Root was exceptional. He hit seven boundaries, all of which came from elegant, conventional cricket strokes, most of which were played in the gaps and along the ground. He immolated when he finally innovated. When he attempted to paddle Brathwaite over a short, fine leg on 54 from 36, he stumbled, but Sulieman Benn dove forward to secure a clean catch close to the ground.
Everyone agreed that West Indies played excellent fielding. Not a single catch was lost, and a few that were were not easy to grab. Russell, Brathwaite, and Badree were all difficult to escape. In the course of three deliveries, Bravo claimed three wickets, including those of Moeen Ali and Stokes. However, a combination of Benn and Sammy was the fifth bowler, and they leaked a much.
Jos Buttler hit Benn for two consecutive sixes in his 36 off 22 balls, and his three overs cost forty runs. Sammy bowled just one over for fourteen. Having led West Indies to one of their biggest victories in recent memory, Sammy finds himself in an odd situation where he nearly lost his job in the process. In this event, he bowled three overs for thirty-one runs and scored only eight runs. He did not bowl or bat in three games.
Who cares, though, really? Sammy is a captain who has won two World T20 titles. None in cricket has done what his men have done. And they have brought three victories in a row to the Caribbean area in 2016. What a year the Caribbean had.
