Carlos Brathwaite's performance of the year - as it happened

It was the iconic Eden Gardens in Kolkata where the final of the 2016 World T20 was being played between England and West Indies. Both teams had won the prestigious tournament once before, and this time, they were involved in one of the most exciting finals of a T20 tournament in the cricketing history.

Batting first, England had posted a challenging total of 155/9. West Indies’s run chase was anchored by Marlon Samuels who was doing it all alone for the majority of the innings. He kept his team in the hunt and took them to a manageable 27 runs off the last two overs.

Just then, Chris Jordan bowled a terrific penultimate over and gave away only eight runs. Requiring 19 runs off the last over, the odds were in favour of the Englishmen. Having done all the hard work to reach that point in the tournament, it seemed like a “so near yet so far” moment for the men from the Caribbean.

Ben Stokes was handed over the responsibility to defend the runs in the final over. The lesser known Carlos Brathwaite was on strike and what followed next, became one of the most iconic moments in the T20 history.

First Six

The bowler attempted a leg stump yorker off the first ball that went horribly wrong and Brathwaite had a full swing at that. The ball flew over the deep backwards square leg and into the crowd that turned the equation into 13 runs off five balls. It pulled the game back in the balance and made the West Indians believe that they could achieve the improbable.

Second Six

Next ball, Stokes missed his length yet again. The batsmen cleared his front leg and belted it over long-on and the ball went sailing over the fence and deep into the crowd. The people in the stands were in support of the West Indies and they got their money worth. Seven needed off four balls and the game had turned in favor of the batting side.

Third Six

One felt that the batsman would now take it easy a bit and look for singles or doubles to get closer but that was just not Brathwaite's style. He smacked another one and this time, over long-off. It was a mistimed stroke that still went far inside the boundary and Stokes was down on his knees.

He could not believe what had struck him, but he had to pick himself up and bowl the rest of the over. The West Indies players were jumping with joy; they knew that they were on the brink of being the T20 champions yet again.

Fourth Six

Just the one run needed off 3 balls; it could have come from anywhere. A slight tickle and a run would be the order of the day, but Brathwaite had to finish it in style and he did it with fourth six in a row. Another length delivery on leg and the power of the batsman sent it packing over the deep mid-wicket boundary.

“Carlos Brathwaite, remember the name”, shouted an ecstatic Ian Bishop on air. The whole team charged towards their star who had brought glory back to his side. They danced and danced to the steps of Dwayne Bravo’s Champion song.

On the other hand, Stokes was on his knees again and in tears. He probably had seen the worst moment of his career. The English team had done a tremendous job to come thus far but they encountered the mighty West Indies on a wrong day.

It was literally inhuman from Brathwaite. No one would have thought of witnessing four sixes in a row to finish the final of a World Cup. Only West Indies could have done something like that and that showed why they are the biggest powerhouse of the shortest format of the game.

The miraculous effort of Brathwaite was awarded by ICC as the T20 Performance of the year as literally nothing could have matched what he produced in such a pressure situation.