LONDON, England, CMC – Dwayne Bravo delivered a superb match-winning performance and engineered a stylish seven-wicket win for West Indies over defending champions in their ICC World Twenty20 Championship match yesterday at Lord’s.
Propelled by Bravo’s stirring unbeaten half-century and four-wicket haul, West Indies secured victory when they restricted India to 153 for seven off their 20 overs and then marched to 156 for three off 18.4 overs, Bravo finishing the game with a huge six off pacer Zaheer Khan over extra-cover.
“This is what we wanted and we got it today, I am very pleased with the way we performed,” captain Chris Gayle said.
Set 154 to win, West Indies stuttered at the start when Irfan Pathan dislodged Andre Fletcher for a “duck” in the second over.
Big-hitting Gayle was choked by intelligent Indian bowling and the Windies skipper eventually fell for 22 off 28 balls as West Indies slipped to 42 for two in the eighth over.
Under pressure after Harbhajan Singh delivered a maiden over to him, Gayle tried to free himself and top-edged a high catch to fine leg.
Man of the match Bravo then joined Lendl Simmons and the Trinidadian pair astutely paved the way for a memorable West Indies victory.
Simmons stroked 44 off 37 balls in a 58-run stand with Bravo, who finished undefeated on 66 off 36 balls with four fours and three sixes as West Indies won with eight balls to spare.
Earlier, India started briskly – after they won the toss — but lost three wickets when fiery pacer Fidel Edwards and Bravo combined to dislodge Rohit Sharma (14), Suresh Raina (5) and Gautam Gambhir (14) cheaply to be 29 for three in the fifth over.
Gambir was brilliantly caught when Simmons executed a running catch toward the boundary, tumbling over at square leg when he chased a ball high over his head after the left-hander miscued a pull shot off Bravo.
But Yuvraj Singh linked up with his captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni to steady the innings before Yusuf Pathan and Singh registered an innings best 64 for the fifth wicket.
Yuvraj profited from a tough dropped catch by Fletcher on the deep square leg boundary when he was 32 and went on to smash 67 off 43 balls with six fours and two sixes.
Pathan scored 31 off 23 balls.
Bravo led the West Indies bowling with four for 38 off his four overs and Edwards claimed three for 24 off his quota. India will now face a crucial Super Eights Group E match against England at Lord’s on Sunday after West Indies meet in-form South Africa at The Oval today.
