The 2016 edition of World T20 came to an end with West Indies being crowned as the Champions courtesy a 4 wicket win over England in the Finals at Kolkata on Sunday.
The tournament saw some great performances which include the Man of the Tournament Virat Kohli, Joe Root, Samuel Badree, David Willey etc. and had a lot of moments to cherish.
India’s last ball win over Bangladesh, Chris Gayle’s century, West Indies’ Champion celebration, Virat Kohli’s master class against Australia and Joe Root’s brilliance against South Africa are some of the best memories from this World T20.
Let us take a look at the moments that stood out from the World T20.
Carlos Brathwaite finishing the tournament with 4 sixes
19 runs were needed off the last over in the high-voltage finals as history was at a striking distance for the West Indian T20 team and the set batsmen Marlon Samuels was at the non-striker’s end.
Carlos Brathwaite, who came into the Windies’ World T20 squad as a replacement for Keiron Pollard was on strike and he sent the first ball of the last over bowled by Ben Stokes sailing over the deep backward square.
One more length ball and it was slammed down the ground over long-on for another six. Length ball once again and this time, it went over the long-off boundary.
One run was needed off 3 balls and the fourth ball of the over, which was also a length ball was dispatched over the mid-wicket boundary and when the ball left his bat, the celebrations started at West Indies’ dug-out.
Brathwaite won the match by hitting four consecutive sixes and West Indies were crowned as Champions for the second time in World T20s and became the first team to do so. This was easily the best ending to a World T20 finals.
Colin Munro’s reverse-cut
Since the invention of T20s, a lot of new shots came into existence. Be it the scoop or the switch hit, all these shots are difficult to master and pull off in the pressure situation of a match.
The new shot to join the list is the “reverse-cut” which was pulled out by New Zealand’s Colin Munro. Munro, who first hogged the limelight when he scored the second fastest fifty in T20Isoff just 14 balls against Sri Lanka earlier this year, has an array of shots in his armour.
In New Zealand’s second match against Australia, Munro played the reverse-cut for the first time and followed it again against Pakistan and also in the semis against England.
Munro, being a left-hander reversed his stance for a switch-hit and since the ball was too wide for him to attempt a switch-hit, Munro came up with a late cut to dab it past the wicketkeeper for runs.
Afghanistan beating West Indies
A lot of talks were going on regarding ICC’s decision to cut down the number of teams from the next World Cup. But once again, an associate nation proved it wrong as Afghanistan became the only team to get the better of champions West Indies in the tournament.
In their final group game at Nagpur, defending a par 123 against the big-hitting West Indian batsmen, Afghanistan bowlers showed what they are capable of as they beat the mighty West Indies by 6 runs and caused the upset of the World T20.
Both the Afghan players and fans soaked in the victory and the players celebrating at the ground had a surprise as West Indies’ Chris Gayle joined them in the celebrations and made it more special.
Virat Kohli bowing down to Sachin Tendulkar
When it comes to excitement and intensity, none of the rivalries can match the India-Pakistan one. These two teams faced each other in the World T20 in front of a galaxy of stars which included celebrities across the borders.
After restricting Pakistan to a modest total of 118 in 18 overs, India were off to a terrible start losing three quick wickets. Once again Virat Kohli came to the rescue as he came up with a master-class under pressure and helped his side beat their arch-rivals by 4 wickets.
When he reached his fifty, Kohli pointed to the stands where Sachin Tendulkar was applauding the knock just like everyone in the stadium and Kohli bowed down to Sachin, symbolising the respect that he has for the legend.
Steve Smith’s incredible shot against Wahab Riaz
Even though Steve Smith is the best Test batsman at present, he has to attribute a lot to his unorthodox style of batting. He tends to move across the stumps and score runs on the leg side.
In this World T20, he took this to a completely new level as he took his stance well outside the off-stump exposing all the three stumps against Wahab Riaz. If the bowler had bowled with an aim at the stumps, he would have seen the stumps cartwheeling, a sight all the fast bowlers wish for.
Riaz, who is known to bowl accurate Yorkers followed Steve Smith and bowled it wide of him and Smith went ahead with the shot as he lofted it to the deep mid-wicket region. At the time of impact, Smith was almost in the adjacent pitch.
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