West Indies won over India, in the WT20 match, held last night in Mumbai.
Indian bowlers, who had done some notable job in the earlier matches, could not do it in the semifinal.
Darren Sammy-led unit won the match by 7 wickets in the final over. Lendl Simmons, scored unbeaten 83 and Andre Russell 43 off 20 balls, which were considered as the key scores that paved way for the victory.
In the need of 193 runs to win, to seal their place in final, West Indies were pushed on the backfoot, after Jasprit Bumrah put Chris Gayle out of pavilion.
Marlon Samuels, followed Gayle, after he failed to direct a Ashish Nehra delivery through the leg-side and gave an easy catch to Ajinkya Rahane in the covers.
But it was later, the war was completely on one side (West Indies side). Lendl Simmons and Johnson Charles used the long handle as West Indies moved past fifty in the 7th over.
The duo scored 80, by 10 overs. Johnson Charles smashed every Indian bowler like Kohli, Dhoni, he even tried to do the same with Kohli. But when Rohit Sharma obstructed his plan, catching hold off the ball at long off, he had to leave the pavilion.
Then came Andre Russel and his partnership with Simmons brought down the winning target to 20 runs off 12 balls.
Dhoni turned to Kohli to bowl the final over. Russell who is on fire, smashed ten runs on next two balls to help West Indies cross the finish line. In the second semifinal, India, who out into bat first, scored 192 runs.
India, who had struggled in the powerplay in earlier games, scored 55 runs in an all-important semifinal.
There were no undue risks taken as Kohli-Rahane duo ran West Indies ragged with rabbit-like running between the wickets. Their partnership witnessed 50 runs, as India crossed three-figure mark in the 13th over.
In Russell’s bowling, Rahane had to leave the pavilion, in the 16th over, as Dwayne Bravo broke into his Champion dance moves near the mid-wicket boundary.
Then came Dhoni and his partnership with Kohli made India reach 150 by the end of 17th over. However, Kohli’s fine knock eventually went in vain as Charles, Simmons and Russell powered West Indies to the World T20 final.
By Phani Ch
