Chris Gayle made a mockery of a stiff chase by asserting his dominance over the England bowlers as West Indies cruised to a 6-wicket win. The crowd at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai were thoroughly entertained due to the marauder’s heroics.
Earlier, Darren Sammy won the toss and decided to bowl first on a surface which had a slightly greenish tinge to it. With the presence of quite a few seam bowling all-rounders, the West Indies went in with both Samuel Badree and Suleiman Benn.
On the other hand, England selected an expected eleven with skipper Eoin Morgan banking heavily on the spinning duo of Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid.
After a couple of quiet overs, Jason Roy and Alex Hales were up and running. While Roy did not mind the slippery pace of Jerome Taylor, his partner took a liking to Badree’s wrist-spin by smashing three consecutive boundaries.
But, the West Indies struck back through Andre Russell who managed to induce a false shot from Roy. Looking to take advantage of the Power Play, the 25-year old could not clear the in-field and instead lobbed one to Badree.
The enterprising Joe Root joined Hales in the middle and continued the momentum by mixing caution with aggression. With proper cricketing shots, England’s star batsman motored along rapidly.
However, Hales succumbed to Benn and Root followed suit by chipping a slower delivery to mid-off. Suddenly, England’s innings was threatening to unravel even as the death overs loomed.
Jos Buttler provided the late surge with a flurry of sixes to offset the West Indies’ plans. His 20-ball 30 raised some hopes while Morgan took it upon himself to finish the innings on a high.
Dwayne Bravo’s last over yielded as many as 18 runs which meant that England crossed the 180 mark. With the required run-rate over nine, all eyes turned to Chris Gayle and his calypso hitting.
Gayle towers over the England bowlers
David Willey got his team off to the perfect start by snaffling Johnson Charles and troubling Marlon Samuels too. Meanwhile, Gayle launched into attack mode right from the outset as the 22-year old Reece Topley was put under immense pressure.
Samuels hogged much of the strike and he suddenly sprung into life by counter-attacking WIlley. When Gayle finally got back into the striker’s end, there was a huge cheer from the stands.
Desperate to find the breakthrough, Morgan had no choice but to fall back upon spin. Rashid obliged immediately by dismissing the dangerous Samuels to give some respite for his team.
Gayle proved to be too hot to handle for Rashid who tried to tempt him by flighting the ball extravagantly. But, his predictable length got him smacked into the top tier by the burly West Indian. There was even a brief break as the ground staff attempted to reduce the copious amount of dew.
But, the 36-year old sauntered merrily as Ben Stokes, Ali and Willey became the latest victims of the ‘Gayle Storm’. Despite England chipping away at the other end. West Indies did not fret as the big man was still at the crease.
And, they did not need to as Gayle had already pummeled England into submission.
Brief Scores: England 182/6 (Root 48 , Buttler 30, Russell 2-36); West Indies 183/4 from 18.1 overs (Gayle 100*, Samuels 37, Rashid 1-20)
Result: West Indies won by 6 wickets
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