ONTHISDAY
Follow Us"Carlos Brathwaite! Carlos Brathwaite, remember the name!"
Former West Indies paceman-turned commentator Ian Bishop screamed on the microphone after the allrounder smoked a T20 World Cup-winning six in the final over at the Eden Gardens. You don't even need to get into details, just say these above-mentioned words and everyone will automatically understand the tournament, the match, the batsman, bowler and the over we are talking about.
On this day in 2016, Carlos Brathwaite clobbered England's Ben Stokes for four consecutive sixes to help West Indies win their second T20 World Cup. The Caribbean side became the only team to win this tournament twice and are still the defending champions with that event being the last of its kind to date.
Background
Having already won the T20 showpiece event in 2012, West Indies came into this tournament as red-hot favourites. They were filled with ferocious big-hitters and almost every West Indian player had the ability to come up with a match-winning performance on their day.
The Daren Sammy-led side commenced their campaign in style by chasing down England's 183-run target with utmost ease, courtesy Chris Gayle's unbeaten hundred. They then smashed defending champions Sri Lanka by seven wickets before being involved in a couple of low-scoring thrillers. While they managed to emerge victorious against South Africa, the Men in Maroon failed to chase down 124 against Afghanistan. They then came face to face against a strong Indian side in the semi-finals and they managed to out-muscle the MS Dhoni-led side on the back of Johnson Charles, Lendl Simmons and Andre Russell's showings.
Like West Indies, England too had previously won the tournament - in 2010. Eoin Morgan's men lost their first encounter and then were involved in three back-to-back close finishes. They managed to hunt down South Africa's huge total of 229 with just two wickets to spare and then defended two par totals against Afghanistan and Sri Lanka respectively. In the semi-final against New Zealand, Jason Roy and Jos Buttler came to their own and propelled England to their second final.
The stage was set, giving England and West Indies an opportunity to become the first team to win the T20 World Cup twice.
The crazy finale
Samuel Badree and Russell dismissed Roy, Alex Hales and Morgan inside five overs after West Indies won the toss and opted to bowl first. Sammy's men were all over England but Joe Root and Buttler refused to surrender and counter-attacked their way back into the game. England's top-two run-getters went after Sulieman Benn and Dwayne Bravo and added 61 runs in 40 deliveries for the fourth wicket.
It looked like England would put up something around 170-175 but the ill-timed spate of wickets halted their charge in the final overs. Brathwaite got the big wickets of Root (36-ball 54) and Buttler (22-ball 36), while Bravo dismissed Stokes and Moeen Ali in the same over to reduce England to 111 for 7.
If not for David Willey's cameo of 14-ball 21, England would have ended up somewhere around the 140-run mark. For West Indies, Brathwaite and Bravo picked up three wickets each, while Badree gave them two early breakthroughs.
With such a strong batting line-up, everybody thought it was going to be a walk in the park for West Indies, but Root and Willey had other ideas. Root got rid of Charles and Gayle in the space of three deliveries, while Willey pinned Simmons right in front of stumps and West Indies were three down inside three overs.
The onus was once again on Marlon Samuels who had already won them the 2012 final against Sri Lanka. Having been there and done that, Samuels started rebuilding the innings and found an able ally in Bravo who was more than happy to play second fiddle. It was Samuels who did most of the scoring, while Bravo ensured his partner had most of the strike. The two added 75 runs but West Indies were operating at just over six and needed these two to shift gears.
Bravo broke the shackles by slamming Adil Rashid for a six but was dismissed in the same over. With 69 needed off 36, Samuels took it upon himself to change the momentum of the match. He hammered Liam Plunkett for two sixes and a four in the next over to bring things under control but Willey got rid of Russell and Sammy in the very next over to once again put England on top.
In walked Brathwaite. He and Samuels got 26 runs from the next three overs, leaving 19 against Stokes in the final over. What followed was utter chaos! 6, 6, 6 and 6 - Brathwaite completely demolished Stokes and left him tears. Four sixes in a row to end the game, which eventually led to wild and shirtless celebrations and dancing. Much deserved though!
What followed
- Well, Samuels lashed out at former Australian legspinner Shane Warne in the post-match presentation ceremony. "Shane Warne has been talking continuously and all I have to say without talking is this (man-of-the-match trophy) is for Shane Warne. I answer with my bat and don't answer with the mic."
- If that was not enough, two-time T20 World Cup-winning captain Sammy had SOMETHING to say to the West Indies Cricket Board. "We had a lot of issues and we felt disrespected by our board. Mark Nicholas described our team as a team of 'no brains.' All these things just before the tournament brought this team together."
- Sammy never played for West Indies after the conclusion of the 2016 T20 World Cup.
- Brathwaite had another "remember-the-name" moment against New Zealand in the 2019 World Cup but this time ended up on the wrong side of the result.
