West Indies win 2016 WT20 title beating England at the Eden Gardens

T20 is a game that can tyrn the tables in one over and that is what happened at the Eden Gardens when West Indies beat England in the final over of the match and set the stadium ablaze with their calypso dances. West Indies needed 19 runs to win, Ben Stokes had the ball and at the crease was Carlos Brathwaite - he struck Stokes for four consecutive sixes to win the match for his team.
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 3 April 2016.

It was a Sunday evening and there was no India in the match - hence, it was expected to be a low key routine final match of World T20 and the two teams competing were non-Asians.
Till the 19th over of the West Indies batting, it appeared that England had won it because 19 runs were needed in the lat over. West Indies had six wickets in hand and Marlon Samuels was batting on 85. The man entrusted with defending the 19 runs in the last over was all-rounder Ben Stokes - he had a few overs earlier taken a superb boundary catch to dismiss the dangerous Andre Russell.
However, the next four deliveries from Stoles sailed for sixes off Carlos Brathwaite's bat and England did not now what had hit them. And, by virtue of this win, West Indies became the first team to lift the ICC World Twenty20 a second time.


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Virat Kohli, the dependable, steers India to the semifinals of World T20

It was a do-or-die situation for India as they took on Australia in he World T20 match at Mohali and, a defeat would have meant the end of the road. But - dependable Virat Kohli steered the Indians to victory with 5 balls to spare. It was a familiar situation with Kohli and Dhoni at the crease for putting the finishing touches to a tough match when a slip would have meant disappointment. This has been reported in hindustantimes.com dated 28 March 2016.

Batting first, the Aussies got off to a fantastic start scoring 63 runs in the first 6 overs but, then, the Indian bowlers put the squeeze on and the Australians kept losing wickets at Tuareg intervals. They ultimately finished with 160 runs on the board - a far cry from a 200+ score that they would have expected with the sort of beginning they had.
In reply, Indians took off on a shaky start with both openers going out cheap and Virat Kohli came to the crease. And, it was tugh gong for him - he lost Suresh Raina soon and, when Yuvraj Singh pulled his hamstring muscles , Kohli had to continue with the game with a limping partner Yuvraj and watch the asking rate rising. It was then that his captain M S Dhoni came to the crease after the fall of Yuvraj's wicket and Kohli's innings gained momentum. He found gaps in the field at will and left the Australians stunned.
Virat Kohli scored 82 (9x4, 2x6) not out and was the obvious choice for the Man of the Match.
India will now face West Indies in the semi-final in Mumbai on March 31 while New Zealand play England the previous day in Delhi.


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India wins by One run against Bangladesh in Bangalore World T20

It was decidedly a WT20 match in which India got the better of Bangladesh who succumbed to pressure of expectations and literally gifted the game away to India. It was evident that India played below par with batsmen failing to score to finally end up with just 146 runs in its 20 0vers. And, Bangladesh frittered away their chances when they lost their nerves.
This has been reported in ibnlive.com dated 23 March 2016.

Some may say it was an exciting nail biting finish but it was a misery that Indians brought upon themselves - first by their poor batting and then by poor fielding. Dropped catches have become the order of the day and, when sitters are dropped, it adds to the tension of not just captain cool M S Dhoni but to millions of viewers who sit glued to the TV sets and wait for miracles to happen.
As it did when India managed to pick up three wickets in the last three deliveries.
Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah needed 11 runs off the final over, and Rahim hit Hardik Pandya for two back-to-back boundaries. That left just two to win off last three balls - and the Bangladeshis could not score that one run in the last three deliveries.shot on their own foot as they didn't manage to score even one run in the last three deliveries. First Rahim was caught in the deep by Shikhar Dhawan and in the very next delivery, Mahmudullah lobbed a full-toss straight at the deep mid-wicket to Ravindra Jadeja.
With this win, India have four points and are second in Group 2 points table.


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India wins rain curtailed World T20 match against Pakistan at Eden Gardens

At one point of time there were serious doubts as to whether the World T20 match can be held at Eden Gardens because of heavy downpour. But, thanks to the ground staff and latest equipment in the form of soppers, the play was made possible. Only, it became a 18-over game instead of the 20-overs and Indian captain M S Dhoni chose to field first.
Pakistan managed to post 118 runs on a pitch that appeared to be unplayable at times due to the ball taking spin. However, the score of 118 was inadequate as was proved by India scoring the win in the penultimate over, thanks to a huge 6 by Dhoni which he followed up with a single to make the winning run.
Virat Kohli was, without doubt, the man of the match. In two back-to-back innings against Pakistan, he had scored 49 in the Asia Cup last month and, at the Eden Gardens, he scored 55-not out. This has been reported in ibnlive.com dated 20 March 2016.

Incidentally, this was a Indo-Pak encounter of a different kind because stalwarts of both countries were present as were big names like Amitabh Bachhan, Anil Ambani, Sachin Tendulkar, Sunil Gavaskar, and Imran Khan. They were felicitated by the CAB and Amitabh Bachhan sang the national anthem.


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World T20 opener - New Zealand outplays India on all fronts at Nagpur

India is known to be the master of playing spin bowling but they met their nemesis at Nagpur in the form of New Zealand who outplayed India on all fronts to score a thumping victory. Set to score 127 to win, India folded up meekly for 78 and could not even play out the allotted 20 overs. It was a miserable performance by the batsmen. M S Dhoni top scored with 30 while Virat Kohli made 23 runs and Ravichandra Ashwin scored 10 - they were the only three batsmen to score in double digits.
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 15 March 2016.

For New Zealand, it was five matches, five wins and they maintained their 100% success rate over India in Twenty20 internationals. They struggled to score 126 runs but defended it successfully, thanks to their spin trio. Mitchell Santner scalped 4/11 while Ish Sodhi returned figures of 3/18. Obviously, New Zealand read the pitch better than India and spun their way to victory, thanks to failure of the Indian batting stalwarts to deliver.
New Zealand struggled to cope with the tough conditions after Kane Williamson opted to bat. They had dropped Tim Southee and Trent Boult and accommodate three spinners which was a masterstroke.


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