ICC T20 World Cup 2016: South Africa vs West Indies - 5 Talking Points
South Africa had come into the World T20 as one of the contenders to lift the trophy. But, their campaign got off to a terrible start as England pulled the rug under their feet by chasing a mammoth score in Mumbai.
After a victory against Afghanistan, the contest against West Indies was hugely important to their aspirations of reaching the semi-finals as another loss could effectively rule them out of the fray.
On the other hand, the West Indies had absolutely pulverized England by riding on Chris Gayle’s blitzkrieg which rendered the opposition irrelevant. They continued their charge by demolishing Sri Lanka on a spin-friendly surface in Bangalore which meant that a win would take them into the final four.
Darren Sammy called correctly and surprisingly opted to chase on a Nagpur pitch which had developed quite a reputation of being a haven for spinners. The Caribbean outfit got off to a strong start by picking up early wickets. Despite a dogged fight back from the Proteas, a meager total prevented them from pushing the power-packed West Indians.
Let us go through the five most decisive moments from the low-scoring thriller in chronological order.
#1 – Russell’s all-round play
South Africa got off to a terrible start with key man Hashim Amla misjudging a single and running himself out in the third ball of the innings. With the field up and close, it was a bizarre decision to take such a massive risk right at the start.
The bigger mistake was that the South Africans took on the rocket arm of Andre Russell who had proved himself to one of the sharpest fielders going around, at the moment. Not content with this effort, Russell picked up Faf du Plessis with a clever delivery.
The all-rounder came back in the end overs to once again prize out a vital wicket when his team needed one. Quinton de Kock who had played an impressive innings fell prey to the fuller one and was castled.
Russell’s handy performance in the field pegged the Proteas back at inopportune moments.