What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object? Well, this is what happened when the Proteas took on the West Indies in a battle of might. Both these teams are filled with power hitters that could cause some severe destruction to the ball.
Before the game began, West Indies were—and still are—sitting pretty at the top of Group A. South Africa, who would be worried with their displays so far in this tournament, needed a win to keep the pressure on England and keep the chances of qualification high.
However, the Caribbean team completely swept the batting order of the South Africans, bundling them for a mere 122, and crossed the line in the end in what was a low-scoring thriller.
There were several unforgettable moments throughout the match that don’t fade away, quite like the Axe Signature line of body perfumes. Here are 5 moments which will remain in the fans' memories for a long time:
Calypso waves of awesomeness
When West Indies won the toss and opted to bowl, it was inevitable that South Africa would have to face some real good bowling on a real good bowling turf. However, given that the Proteas’ batting line-up is among the best in the world, one would have expected them to cope with the threat.
But they were washed away by the awesome wave of Calypso.
We saw in the movie, Pirates of the Caribbean, that the angry sea-Goddess Calypso showed her wrath creating a maelstrom in the sea, which sucked in many. Today, we saw something similar, albeit by the West Indies bowlers.
Managing a meagre 122, something that doesn’t seem believable when the South African batting is concerned, the West Indies bowler never gave the Proteas the time to settle down. Picking wickets at regular intervals, their performance in the field was phenomenal as well.
Gaylestorm – with the ball
The term Gaylestorm associates to Chris Gayle hitting the ball all over the park, making it rain sixes and four while he stands on the pitch like a God among mortals.
Today, however, there was a twist to the Gaylestorm and the ball was spared.
With the bat, he hit a four and then got out. However, with the ball, he completely pushed the South Africans against the wall with his brilliant reign of bowling. In the three overs that he bowled, he gave away only 17 runs while picking up two very important wickets of Rilee Rossouw and David Miller.
They don’t call him the party king for no reason, he just doesn’t fade away in a game!
1000 runs for Marlon Samuels and Dwayne Bravo
The second and third ever West Indian players to score 1000 runs in T20Is, respectively, after Chris Gayle, Marlon Samuels and Dwayne Bravo have been an ever-stay in the Caribbean team for as long as one can remember. They have been the two pillars of the team that have dominated the shortest version of the game for years. And their stats are nothing but incredible, which underlines their consistency.
Dwayne Bravo has batted in 52 innings, scoring 1001 runs with an average of 24.82 and a respectable strike rate of 119.20. With the bowl, he has picked 46 wickets in the 49 times he got to bowl. Marlon Samuels, meanwhile, has scored 1036 runs, in 42 innings at a strike-rate of 121.41.
On top of that, Marlon Samuels played a very responsible innings of 44 runs, guiding West Indies to the semi-finals.
Tahir Tandava
West Indies were cruising at a real comfortable. The match seemed like a walk in the park, with no real hiccups whatsoever as Russel and Samuels were coasting the team to victory.
But, it was then that the Tandava of Imran Tahir commenced. In Vedic stories, the Tandava was the dance of destruction and two wickets in two consecutive balls from the leg-spinner provided a ray of hope for the Proteas.
At first, Russel gave his wicket away in cheap fashion and then Imran Tahir bowled a beauty of a googly to get rid the very dangerous Darren Sammy. At that point, South Africa were hoping that maybe, just maybe they could make another team choke against them for a change, but…
Brathwaite did a Dhoni
Mahendra Singh Dhoni is known for his astute captaincy and the incredible ability to keep a calm head in very difficult situations. While Bangladesh were more to blame for their last-ball defeat against India, Dhoni’s captaincy was more than admirable as his cunningness brought India to the position of victory when they were glaring at blatant defeat.
However, ‘Mahi’ is also known for another thing: finishing a chase with a six.
And Brathwaite did just that today as he finished the game with a mighty blow that took the ball over the boundary. West Indies needed just a single, but Brathwaite, like a typical West Indian, finished it with style and flair.
It could well be said that tonight, Brathwaite was West Indies' MS Dhoni!
