Fans' dream comes true as Lions are chased away by Pirates

At last, West Indies were rewarded for their clinical performance in this tournament as they thrashed the hosts Sri Lanka, who were unbeaten in this tournament, by 36 runs.

It was a typical Sri Lankan wicket as it behaved on the slower side. The moment West Indies won the toss, they were clearly the favourites given the spin attack they have. That’s exactly what happened as Marlon Samuels and Sunil Narine bowled exceedingly well in the middle part of the innings, which ultimately helped West Indies inch closer towards victory and at last Samuels finished it off for the Windies.

Earlier, West Indies won the toss and had no hesitation in batting first. They didn’t get off to a good start as they lost Charles in the very first over of the innings as the latter tried to scoop it over mid-on, but in the end was caught for 0. Then Marlon Samuels joined hands with Chris Gayle. As Mathews and Malinga were tightening the screws, neither Gayle nor Samuels were able to clear the boundary. Eventually, Gayle was struck in front of Mendis and was dismissed for only 3. Bravo and Samuels then steadied the run-rate as the duo shared a very handy partnership of 59 runs before Bravo was trapped in front of Mendis for 19. He was caught around the knee roll playing forward around off stump, and probably there was some bat involved but umpire Taufel rose his finger.

Later, the innings revolved around Marlon Samuels, who played a splendid knock 78 but was unfortunately dismissed at a crucial stage of the innings. The final push of the innings came from the West Indian skipper Darren Sammy who clobbered 15-ball 26, which included 15 runs of the last over from Kulasekara which proved to be the turning point of the match. West Indies ended their innings with 137 runs for the loss of 6 wickets of the allotted 20 overs.

It looked like a reasonable score to defend as the track behaved on the slower-side and Windies also had more spinning options. It was important for Sri Lanka to keep up with the asking rate but they never did as they kept losing wickets at regular intervals.

West Indies got of to a superb start with the ball as they grabbed the wicket of Dilshan in the 2nd over of the match as he was clean bowled off Rampaul for nought. Then, Sri Lanka’s two best batsmen once again offered resistance to Windies’ spinners and it was their job to carry Sri Lanka towards the target, but neither did as Sangakkara was the first to be dismissed. Pollard took a blinder at deep-mid wicket to dismiss Sangakkara for 22. Subsequently, Sri Lanka’s most reliable batsman Mathews was also dismissed in quick time, which eventually had the Lions on back foot. Soon skipper Jayewardene followed as he tried reverse sweep but in the end was caught by Sammy at point for 33. After that Sri Lanka never looked like achieving the target as the spinners kept them under check. As the asking rate crept up over 12.00, Sri Lankan batsman had no choice other than attacking. They tried to play shots but they didn’t middle it because of which they kept losing wickets and at last were bundled out for 101.

That meant, West Indies clinched the ICC World Twenty20 2012 in Sri Lanka after a year of struggle. Skipper Sammy should be proud of his boys and needs to continue with the momentum and show their master-class in the forth coming series.

At last, the fans’ dream comes true as the Pirates outclassed the Lions!