WEST INDIES BAGS ICC WORLD T20 CUP

West Indies sealed the ICC World Twenty20 crown with a comfortable 36-run victory in the final match against Sri Lanka. It the West Indies' first world title after a gap of 33 years having won the ODI World Cup back in 1979. Batting first in front a 35,000 enthusiastic crowd, Caribbeans scored only 32 runs off the first 10 overs. With the powerful hitter Gayle in opening position, the powerplay yielded only 14 runs for West Indies due to brilliant effort by Sri Lanka’s unorthodox spinner Ajantha Mendis who grabbed four wickets for 12 runs. Samuels played one of the most memorable innings under pressure with a heroic 78 off 56 balls to steer West Indies to 137 for six. He hits 6 sixes off T20 specialist Lasith Malinga's bowling where almost every other batsman struggled. With the strong batting lineup, it was not a difficult score to chase but still they lost the match by 36 runs as they were bundled out for 101 runs. For Sri Lanka and Mahela Jayawardene, it was another case of 'so-near-yet-so-far' having now lost four World Cup finals (two 50 overs and two T20s) across two categories. A sense of sadness surely spread from Colombo throughout Sri Lanka on Sunday night. Mahela Jayawardene stepped down as T20 captain after the final.

Gayle and his teammates bring such uncontrolled happiness to the sport with the way the celebrated after winning the world cup. An ecstatic West Indies team did the 'Gangnam Style' dance after defeating Sri Lanka. Accidently it was birthday boy Dwayne Bravo who prompted the celebrations after catching Lasith Malinga on the boundary to end the Sri Lankan innings. He was joined by his teammates and coaching staff, sprinting onto the pitch from the sidelines, for celebrations that would go into the next day and no doubt beyond.This is a team that loves to have fun almost as much as it loves to play cricket. There’s always a smile on the faces of the West Indies players with the team full of wonderful people like Chris Gayle, the man who adopted the global hit  “Gangnam-style” dance from South Korean rapper Psy – throughout this tournament.

Man of the Match – Marlon Samuels

Man of the Tournament - Shane Watson

Spectators Pick XI - Shane Watson, Chris Gayle, Mahela Jayawardene (capt), Virat Kohli, Eoin Morgan, Michael Hussey, Brendon Mcullum (wk), Mitchell Starc, Raza Hasan, Saeed Ajmal, Lasith Malinga. 

Flop XI - Richard Levi, Gautam Gambhir, Hashim Amla, Jonny Bairstow, Kamran Akmal, Kieron Pollard, Shahid Afridi, Andre Russel, Umar Gul, Tim Southee, Brad Hogg, Albie Morkel.