#2 Dwayne Bravo- 37/2 at Lauderhill in 2016
It was a perfect T20 game. Played on a flat pitch with short boundaries and in front of a jam-packed stadium, the first T20 between India and West Indies at Lauderhill, USA saw a total of 489 runs, the most in any T20 game.
West Indies piled up 245 runs in the first innings and India responded brilliantly by going for the kill. After 17 overs India had scored 213 runs with just three wickets down. 33 runs were needed from 18 balls and at the crease was arguably India’ a best-limited overs finisher MS Dhoni with KL Rahul.
But Dwayne Bravo, the master of death bowling, once again stamped his supremacy by managing two overs of absolute brilliance. In the 18th over, he conceded just nine runs and offered only one boundary.
The 19th over over yielded 16 runs and the game looked finished as India needed a mere eight runs from the last over.
However, Bravo upped the ante and showcased some fine death over bowling under pressure in his final over. On the first ball, he created an opportunity but Dhoni was put down. For the next five balls, he mixed up slower balls with searing yorkers and denied Indians any boundaries.
Dhoni and Rahul managed to get only six runs from the final over and West Indies won the game by one run. Bravo’s bowling figures of two for 37 in four overs by no means look impressive but his second spell of 2-0-15-1 under the circumstances was simply marvellous.
And fittingly enough, in the match where batsmen dominated the proceedings, it was a bowler who decided the result of the game.
