Most thrilling six finishes in crunch limited-overs matches
Dinesh Karthik became a hero overnight with a stunning innings under pressure in the Nidahas Trophy final against Bangladesh at Colombo. He came to the crease with 34 to win off 12 balls and found himself on strike straightaway. The six balls of the nineteenth over then read: 6, 4, 6, 0, 2, 4. Eventually, India required 5 to win from 1 ball. Karthik, on strike, obliged and sent the ball sailing over the extra cover boundary; India won the trophy and the wicketkeeper-batsman ended on a miraculous 29* off 8 balls.
Sportskeeda looks back on nail-biting last-over finishes in crunch games – all of them either tournament finals or semi-finals – where a six sealed the deal for the chasing side, with the match hanging in the balance throughout the last over.
#5 Carlos Brathwaite - West Indies vs England: T20 World Cup 2016 Final, Kolkata
Brief Scores: West Indies 161/6 in 19.4 overs (Root 54; Brathwaite 3/23, Bravo 3/37) beat England 155/9 in 20 overs (Samuels 85*, Brathwaite 34*; Willey 3/20) by 4 wickets
Either side would become the first to win the World T20 twice, as three of England's top four were removed for single-digit scores before a partnership of 61 between Joe Root and Jos Buttler steadied their ship. Once Carlos Brathwaite got Buttler, England found it difficult to accumulate runs on a slow pitch. Root top-scored with 54 and lower-order contributions took them to 155/9 after three wickets each from Brathwaite and Dwayne Bravo checked their flow.
The story in the chase was similar: West Indies were 11/3 and a 75-run partnership between Marlon Samuels and Bravo kept them alive. David Willey made it 107/6, and West Indies' only hope was Samuels when it was down to 31 off 13. That became 19 off 6, but Brathwaite had strike instead.
Ben Stokes had enough to defend, but history was rewritten by Brathwaite inside only four deliveries – 6, 6, 6, 6 – to leave Stokes ashamed and bring home the T20 crown yet again. Those extraordinary hits proved enough for the world to forget that Samuels, at the other end, had hammered 85* for a second half-century in as many T20 World Cup finals.