Sunday was a day of glory for the West Indies. Both their men's and women's teams won their World T20 finals against England and Australia respectively at Eden Gardens. West Indies' Carlos Brathwaite smashed England's Ben Stokes for four successive sixes to snatch a sensational four-wicket win as the Caribbean side became the first team to win the title twice.
Needing 19 off the last over sent down by Stokes, Brathwaite exhibited nerves of steel to complete the chase in stunning style. The 24 runs Brathwaite scored off Stokes was the highest in the final over of a Twenty20 International, bettering Australia's mark of 23 against Pakistan in Gros Islet in 2010.
England's death overs hero Stokes was left distraught after failing to contain Brathwaite, who had a memorable night having scored 34 with the bat after earlier claiming 3-23 with the ball to restrict England to a modest total. Man-of-the-match Marlon Samuels was not out on 85 but it was Brathwaite's blistering total off 10 balls that saw them home.
Put in to bat, England got off to a horrendous start before Joe Root hit a fluent 54 to help the 2010 champions post a competitive 155 for nine wickets. Root added 61 to the England total in partnership with Jos Buttler (36), who hit left-arm spinner Sulieman Benn for back-to-back sixes before holing out in the deep.
Maiden victory for women
West Indies women won their maiden final in style at the Eden Gardens on Sunday. Deandra Dottin struck the winning runs amid much drama for the West Indies. The West Indian ladies muscled the Australians out of the contest with a splendid display of controlled power-hitting that was only slightly less explosive than what their men's team had displayed against India. Chasing Australia's modest tally of 149/5, West Indies openers Stafanie Taylor and Hayley Matthews added a record 120 runs to virtually shut Australia out of the match. Skipper Stafanie 59 and 18-year-old Hayley 66 literally toyed with the Australian bowling which lacked both variety and bite.
It was the highest partnership for any wicket by the West Indies in the WT20 meet. The previous record was held by Dottin and Shanel Daley, who added 118 runs against South Africa in Basseterre in the 2010 WT20 meet.
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Yuvraj's six sixes
The four sixes West Indies batsman Carlos Brathwaite scored against England's Ben Stokes reminds us of the 6 sixes Yuvraj Singh smashed against English bowler Stuart Broad in an over at Durban in South Africa in 2007 T20 world championship. Broad's first two balls were swung over fine leg, the third over cover, the fourth cut over point, the fifth pulled to mid-wicket and the last into the stands at long-on. It was only the fourth instance in top cricket that six sixes were hit in an over after Garfield Sobers and Ravi Shastri did it in first-class cricket and Herschelle Gibbs in the World Cup earlier.
