The probability of the unknown happening is always prevalent in any event of life. In cricket, it is no different. The players who are overlooked by fans come up with performances that weave their own place in the eternal tapestry of history of cricket.
The 2016 World T20 also saw several such moments where a relatively unknown player went on to power his way through a game and make a name for himself. These performances ensured that the match don't fade away from the fans' memories, just like the Axe Signature line of body perfumes.
And here are 5 such performances:
Carlos Brathwaite vs England
What needs be said about him? He might just be the man who gave a World Cup tournament its best ever finish. It wasn’t a long time ago when he raised eyebrows for something in which he had no hand at all.
When Delhi Daredevil outbid all other teams to sign him for 4.2 cr rupees, many fans were left wondering whether the IPL franchise were out of their minds. And after just some months, the opinions of those fans have changed. Daredevils fans are ecstatic about it now while the other teams' fans are upset on missing out on a such a powerful hitter of the ball.
In the final, his 10-ball-34 took West Indies to glory. Needing 19 runs in the last over made almost everyone think that England had the game in their bag and the last over was just a formality. However, Brathwaite hit four sixes in a row to take West Indies home and become the most iconic unexpected hero of the tournament.
His batting overshadowed another important part, however: his bowling. Carlos Brathwaite had a magnificent outing with the ball as he picked 3 wickets while giving away just 23 runs, putting up a complete all round performance to help the West Indies win their second World T20 title.
Mitchell Santner vs India
“Mitchell, who?” went many Indian fans when he came in to bowl against the Men in Blue. By the time, the match ended, they had a clear idea of who he exactly was. In a tournament that turned out to provide him with his biggest breakthrough, he ended it with the most number of wickets in the main stages.
However, in his first game against India, he wasn’t expected to come good. He repaid the selectors' faith in him with a 4-wicket spell that destroyed the Indian batting line up. Defending a paltry 126, New Zealand were up against the odds against the hosts.
But, Santner's heroics ensured that the Kiwis started their World T20 campaign with a morale-boosting 47-run win against India, bundling the hosts out for a lowly 79. He began the tournament as a relatively unknown player, but has ended it as one of its stars.
Ish Sodhi vs Bangladesh
Another Kiwi in the list. The New Zealand came with a lot of new faces and hence, it was only natural for people to not expect much from them. Indeed, with McCullum’s retirement, a good showing was just what the fans demanded. And along with Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi played the most important role with the ball.
Only his peer Santner had more wickets in the main stages of the tournament. And like Santner, Sodhi became an unexpected star for his exceptional 3 wickets against his motherland, India. And he didn’t just stop there.
His best match was against Bangladesh where his tricky bowling was unplayable for the batsmen. Picking 3 wickets for just 21 runs, he helped New Zealand bundle Bangladesh out for only 70 runs, in a game where they were defending 146. And it wasn’t just any random wickets as he wiped up the lower-middle order by getting the important wickets of Soumya Sarkar and Mahmudullah—the latter who is known for remarkable finishing abilities
Chris Jordan vs Sri Lanka
There were a lot of grumpy faces when he made it to England squad. After this was a guy who isn’t as consistent as one would like him a prime fast bowler to be. However, after practicing about 3000 yorker length balls under coach Ottis Gibson, England knew that they had a bowler they could trust.
In the 4 death overs that he bowled against Sri Lanka and New Zealand, he conceded only 224 runs while taking 4 wickets. That is a wicket per over while giving away just 6 runs; something which is beyond incredible in death overs.
It was his heroics against Sri Lanka that sealed the game for England. At a time when Angelo Matthews was at his brilliant best, he stopped the Sri Lankan skipper with some perfectly bowled yorkers. He ended the game with outstanding figures of 4/28, which basically sealed England’s place in the semis.
Lendl Simmons vs India
When you think of the West Indies team, the player that you will most probably remember last of all is Lendl Simmons. Not anymore. The fan following around India is of such a high magnitude that any player that has a wonderful game against India, becomes a star.
His 82 runs innings against India came at a time when it was needed the most. What made the knock even more special was that he had just arrived to play for the team after Andre Fletcher got injured—something that, from a retrospective view, became India’s undoing.
As he had just arrived, the jetlag was supposed to stick with him and hinder his performance. But instead, he played a gem of an innings, despite the fact that the luck played highly in his favour after being caught out thrice, only for two of them to be no-balls and one for Rohit Sharma to touch the ropes.
