South Africa had come into the World T20 as one of the contenders to lift the trophy. But, their campaign got off to a terrible start as England pulled the rug under their feet by chasing a mammoth score in Mumbai.
After a victory against Afghanistan, the contest against West Indies was hugely important to their aspirations of reaching the semi-finals as another loss could effectively rule them out of the fray.
On the other hand, the West Indies had absolutely pulverized England by riding on Chris Gayle’s blitzkrieg which rendered the opposition irrelevant. They continued their charge by demolishing Sri Lanka on a spin-friendly surface in Bangalore which meant that a win would take them into the final four.
Darren Sammy called correctly and surprisingly opted to chase on a Nagpur pitch which had developed quite a reputation of being a haven for spinners. The Caribbean outfit got off to a strong start by picking up early wickets. Despite a dogged fight back from the Proteas, a meager total prevented them from pushing the power-packed West Indians.
Let us go through the five most decisive moments from the low-scoring thriller in chronological order.
#1 – Russell’s all-round play
South Africa got off to a terrible start with key man Hashim Amla misjudging a single and running himself out in the third ball of the innings. With the field up and close, it was a bizarre decision to take such a massive risk right at the start.
The bigger mistake was that the South Africans took on the rocket arm of Andre Russell who had proved himself to one of the sharpest fielders going around, at the moment. Not content with this effort, Russell picked up Faf du Plessis with a clever delivery.
The all-rounder came back in the end overs to once again prize out a vital wicket when his team needed one. Quinton de Kock who had played an impressive innings fell prey to the fuller one and was castled.
Russell’s handy performance in the field pegged the Proteas back at inopportune moments.
#2 – Gayle has a ball
Chris Gayle is often associated with his remarkable batting exploits which sends fans into a tizzy and relegates bowlers to spectators. But, there is one unheralded aspect to his game as well.
This time, the show-man entertained the crowd with the ball in hand. Be it his innocuous off-breaks which caught the South Africans unawares or the hilarious celebrations that followed thereafter, Gayle was again in the thick of things.
He convinced Rilee Rossouw to cut a loopy delivery which was way outside off-stump straight into Russell’s hands. The 36-year old proceeded to breach David Miller’s defense and struck timber with a straight forward one.
Though he could not do much with the bat, Gayle’s antics on the field had delighted the audience.
#3 – Quinton comes of age as others wilt
Quinton de Kock has played quite a lot of frenetic knocks on several docile surfaces and made himself impossible to contain. But, on a sluggish surface which tested every batsman on show, the 23-year old defied a confident bowling unit.
Quick to use his feet against the spinners, he looked assured as he negotiated the tricky waters admirably. The wicket-keeper batsman picked up boundaries with some delectable shots.
Once he settled down, de Kock consolidated his innings to prop up a frail South African batting lineup. He rotated the strike by targeting the right fielders and offered a semblance of hope for his team by giving their bowlers something to defend.
#4 – Charles and Samuels provide the platform
In their pursuit of 123, the West Indies got off to a bad start as Kagiso Rabada uprooted Gayle’s off-stump. But, the other opening batsman, Johnson Charles got the chase going with a refreshingly sensible approach.
Despite wickets falling at the other end, he did not lose his calmness and kept the scoreboard ticking. Marlon Samuels arrived at the crease and took over the responsibility from his junior partner.
He flexed his muscles to thwart the slowness of the surface and kept finding the boundaries to soothe the nerves. Acknowledging the threat posed by the spinners, Samuels distinctly earmarked the pacers to up the ante.
Though he got out at the wrong time, he had done enough to place West Indies at the precipice of victory.
#5 – South Africa fight back, but fall agonizingly short
At the end of the 16th over, West Indies needed only 24 runs to seal the match and Samuels was still going strong. When it appeared like a victory was mere formality, du Plessis threw the ball to Imran Tahir in a bid to conjure a miracle.
The leg-spinner answered his captain’s call as he struck twice in consecutive deliveries to suddenly enliven the stadium. After dropping a simple return catch, Tahir made amends by dismissing Russell who attempted an almighty slog.
He followed it up by stunning Sammy with a well-disguised googly. The West Indies captain was bewildered as Tahir set off on his customary run. The equation boiled down to 23 from the last 3 overs and both teams were in with a chance.
But, Carlos Brathwaite connected handsomely as the ball sailed into the gallery to dent South Africa’s chances. When Dinesh Ramdin hit the winning runs, the Proteas were left wondering whether they had missed a great opportunity.
