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Winning captain Darren Sammy said, "We knew it was going to be a massive step, our 5th step in this tournament, against a great India team, I must commend the whole team. I knew it was a 200 par wicket, I told the boys at the half way stage that they are ten runs short. Simmons & Russell did extremely well. I was praying that I win the toss and I've won 5 out of 5 now. It's a big step we've taken. The U19 team inspired us earlier in the year and the Women have done so well. We now have 2 teams in the final. We have been through so much and it felt great to come out of it. Chris is our best player but we have 15 match winners. The others, Simmons & Russell stepped up to finish it off today.
Losing captain MS Dhoni said, "Bad toss to lose today because of a 7pm start. Dew factor kicks in majorly at this time and thus the spinners didn't have much to offer. Our spinners struggle with the wet ball, we have faced this problem in the past as well. I am very disappointed about the no balls but otherwise it was a good effort from the boys. I had to give the ball to the fast bowlers before the last two overs to make a game out of it, they did a decent job. These were tough conditions but we play a lot of close games in the IPL so we're used to it."
Was 192 a sub-par score? Hindsight is 20/20, but you wonder whether Rahane scoring at a strike rate of 120-odd was the best thing for India. Still, if not for those 2 no-balls, India may well have pulled it off. It bears repeating: in an international game, on a stage as big as the World T20 semifinal, there's absolutely no room for overstepping. Ashwin and Pandya will be haunted by those 2 mistakes for a long, long time.
Man of the match Lendl Simmons said, "I slept during the whole flight on my way here. I got a call after the Afghanistan game, they asked me if it was possible for me to come and play and I agreed. So I came and I'm glad to deliver for the team. I enjoy batting here and managed to find the gaps. It was one of my best innings and now I get an opportunity to play in a final. 180-190 is par score here, we executed everything well and I managed to get the team to victory."
The man you feel for most is Virat Kohli. He batted like Superman all through the tournament, and he struck gold even with the ball today. But he had little to no support from the rest of the team, and for the second World T20 edition in a row he has been left with no trophy to hold up despite an exceptional individual performance. His chance at glory will come at some point in the future, you suspect, but for now, all he must be feeling is that he deserved better.
What a remarkable achievement by the West Indies Men's and Women's cricket team! Both qualify for their respective finals. The West Indies Men's team are on the cusp of history, with a chance at becoming the first team to win this event twice. The Women's Team stands a chance at winning their first WC T20 title.
For India, however, it is a case of ifs and buts and what might have been. Twice they got Simmons out, and twice he had to be called back because the bowler had over-stepped. And when you consider the fact that the guilty ones comprised of an off-spinner and a medium-pacer, you have to think that this was a serious case of indiscipline that should have had no place in a World T20 semifinal. And it cost them big time too - Simmons went on to score a match-winning 83, and Dhoni was left ruing his players' mistakes.
Simmons finishes with 83 off 51, and aside from the slew of chances that he received, you've got to say he did well to keep the required run rate under control right from the beginning. But it was Russell's tremendous power that proved to be the difference-maker; just when the pressure seemed to be mounting, he simply flexed his arms and the ball went racing to the boundary. Just the way he's done so often in the IPL, Russell made himself immune to pressure, taking his side home with 2 balls to spare. Incredible performance!
19.4 Kohli to Russell, SIX! He has launched it into the orbit for a six! WI win! It was a full toss, and Russell smashes it towards long on for a mammoth six to dash India's hopes and take WI into the final of the World T20.
19.3 Kohli to Russell, FOUR, an inside edge that goes for four. He was trying to heave it over midwicket, but it went in front of square and split the gap for four!
