Sammy, Bravo at it again
The joys of Caribbean cricket held sway in the virtual quarterfinal of the World Twenty20 between Pakistan and West Indies at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium yesterday as skipper Darren Sammy and all-rounder Dwayne Bravo engineered an 84-run victory to take West Indies through to the semifinals.
Sammy and Bravo plundered 82 runs from the last five overs to take their side to a formidable 166 for six, which their spin duo of Sunil Narine and Samuel Badree ensured was unreachable.
Krishmar Santokie got West Indies to the best possible start by trapping opener Ahmed Shehzad, who scored a century in the previous game, in front off the first ball of the chase. Badree then got Kamran Akmal caught at mid off in the second over, before luring Umar Akmal out of his crease with a googly in the fourth. He completed his set of three by dismissing Shoaib Malik in his next over, also stumped. Pakistan's hopes were further dented when in the 11th over Mohammad Hafeez was caught off Andre Russell at 37 for five, even before Narine had a say. He came to the party in the next over, having Sohaib Maqsood stumped before getting two wickets in his fourth over -- Sohail Tanvir caught at midwicket and Shahid Afridi stumped -- to leave Pakistan at 75 for eight. Seven runs later it was all over as West Indies moved into their second successive World Twenty20 semifinal, and a step closer to becoming the first team to defend the title successfully. They will take on Sri Lanka in the first semifinal at the same venue tomorrow.
Earlier, it was an innings of two halves after Sammy won the toss and elected to bat. For a long while it seemed that West Indies would fall well short of a competitive total as their familiar weakness against spin reared its head. Chris Gayle was out off the first ball bowled by a spinner when Pakistan Hafeez had him stumped in the second over. Dwayne Smith followed, caught behind off pacer Tanvir and West Indies were at 22 for two after 3.5.
Marlon Samuels and Llendl Simmons built a 39-run partnership but took 6.2 overs to do so. Samuels bottom-edged a cut off Afridi to leave West Indies at 67 for four in the 11th.
Denesh Ramdin's wicket brought talismanic skipper Sammy to the crease. With the freedom that the end overs provide, Sammy and Bravo set Mirpur alight. Bravo put the innings into overdrive in the 18th over, hitting Umar Gul for two sixes -- over long on and midwicket -- and a four. Pakistan's spirit was broken in the next over when Bravo hit Ajmal for two sixes over midwicket before Sammy hit another and finished the over -- which cost 24 -- with a four.
Bravo was run out for a 26-ball 46, inclusive of two fours and four sixes, off the first ball of the last over but Sammy hit another four and another six off Tanvir to finish unbeaten on a 20-ball 42 with five fours and two sixes.
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