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| West Indies beat Sri Lanka by 36 runs to win the ICC World Twenty 20 [Photo Credit: http://www.windiescricket.com/] |
Colombo: Following a high-voltage match West Indies clinched
the World Twenty20 title beating Sri Lanka by 36 runs at R Premadasa
Stadium in Colombo on Sunday.
Batting first and after an awful start West
Indies slammed 137 runs with the loss of six wickets in their 20 overs and then
returned to skittle out the hosts for 101 runs in 18.4 overs.
Sunil Narine took three wickets for nine
runs for West Indies while captain Darren Sammy chipped in with two wickets for
six runs.
Leaving no respite for West Indies it was
Ajanta Mendis who took four wickets for 12 runs as Indies struggled
against some accurate bowling and needed some lusty hitting from Marlon Samuels
(78 off 56 balls) to reach respectable total.
Sri Lanka looked to be in control in
Colombo when the Windies scored only 32 from the first 10 overs, with Chris
Gayle taking 16 balls to make three.
But soon Marlon Samuels smashed six sixes in his 56-ball 78 to plunge
his side to 137-6.
Sri Lanka never got to
grips with the chase and although Nuwan Kulasekara's 13-ball 26 gave them hope,
they were bowled out for 101 in the 19th over.
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| West Indies team after winning the match [Photo Credit: http://www.windiescricket.com/] |
The defeat was Sri
Lanka's fourth in as many finals after losing the 2009 World T20 final to
Pakistan, as well at the 2007 and 2011 World Cups to Australia and India
respectively.
Samuels with hi six massive sixes and four boundaries added momentum into the match
and paved the way for West Indies to clinch the crown.
Samuels' innings ended in the 18th over
when he was caught in the deep off Dananjaya.
Notably, it was the West Indies' first major title since 2004 when they lifted the Champions Trophy in England.