Power-hitting vs smart Cricket
West Indies may have teared apart the hearts of 1.2 billion Indians on Thursday when they gate-crashed hosts party with a crushing seven-wicket win, sending packed stadium into complete silence and despair, but the support for the West Indies cricketers–their heroes-away-from-home, remained unchanged as the 2012 champions take on 2010 champions -England in the blockbuster final tonight.
England's captain Eoin Morgan (R) and West Indies captain Darren Sammy pose with the World T20 trophy at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Saturday ahead of the big final on Sunday - AFP
West Indies are loved across this country not only because of their involvement in the franchised-based Indian Premier League but because of their unassuming nature and the glamour they add to the game through their fearless batting and distinctive dancing moves. And when the game begins tonight, the chants of Chris Gayle will reverberate the massive stadium.
But West Indies is not all about Gayle, who has not been his most destructive form since making his second World T20 hundred against England in their tournament opener.
On Thursday, Gayle could muster just five runs before Jaspirit Bumrah bowled a perfect yorker to send his off-stump crashing, but the rest joined the party to keep their title hopes alive.
Johnson Charles went about his business on Thursday laying the foundation for the victory along with Lendl Simmons and Andre Russell but they bat deeper with skipper Sammy, DJ Bravo, Denesh Ramdin and Carlos Brathwaite all capable of depositing the ball into the crowd with a minimum fuss.
“I think since the inception of T20, you’ve seen West Indies is a boundary-hitting team so that’s no surprise for me. Simmons, Russell and Charles displayed that type of batting – boundary hitting – against India but its another match, one last step for us in the tournament. We’ll focus on England but more or less focus on us and we believe if we do what West Indies can do best, we’ll always be destructive in this format,” West Indian skipper Darren Sammy said when asked about their strength in hitting boundaries at the pre-match press conference yesterday.
Each boundary they score, each wicket they take– except in the case of their semi-final against India– have received the loudest cheer from the crowd so far in the tournament and are likely to receive a similar tonight as two teams of varying strengths battle it out for the game’s ultimate prize–the World title.
Such is the support Darren Sammy’s men gather in India but England are expected to come hard–harder than they have done so far in the tournament to lift a cup that matters a lot to a young English-side who have made waves in the last 12-months.West Indies won all but their clash against minnows Afghanistan in the Super 10 stage by scaling down anything on the board through sheer power hitting–their biggest strength.
The Caribbean did not have the ideal preparation coming in, with a contract issue leaving some of the top players behind but inspired by its U-19 cricketers who won the World title this year, Sammy and Co are just one match away from accomplishing their mission.
West Indian skipper also said with a few of the seniors probably playing their last World Cup with the next scheduled for 2020, the team is keen to give them a grand send off. Incidentally, the women’s team also will play in the final of the T20 World Cup against Australia which is being held concurrently and they were also not far behind in their celebrations and if they can win a double in Kokata on Sunday, it would seal an unprecedented treble for the men in maroon and hint at a cricketing revival for the islands after years of decline.
England have played smart cricket. They chased down massive totals with ease, defended low scores with sheer brilliance, a hole-mark of England’s campaign so far. From being no where near the title year ago at the 2015, 50 over World Cup, England have grown steadily and their performances, bearing the one they lost to West Indies is an indication that Englishmen have done too little mistakes leading up to Sunday’s final. Their batsmen are as menacing and destructive as the West Indians batsmen and the bowling particularly at the death have been the most effective.
“It’s quite a stark difference. I would have never imagined that the turn around having such an immediate impact. Again, I have always said that the talent we have in the dressing room and the hard work we put in has been great. The mindset of players and the mindset of support staff has rubbed in to everybody. I think tomorrow there’s an opportunity for us. It’s very exciting. I am very very proud,” England skipper Eoin Morgan responded when asked about England’s recent success in the white-ball cricket.
Jason Roy, Joe Root and Jos Buttler have been terrific form with the bat, Chris Jordan and Ben Stroke increasingly proving to be the best combination at the death bowling and their fielding so far being exception and if they can replicate the same, they can make a real claim to the trophy and the US$ 3.5 million on offer.
“ Yes it gives us confidence. Small ground and it could be a good wicket and that’s going to be a key for us. The last game we only went for 20 runs two from Strokes and two from Jordan. I thought there were clear in thoughts and executed exceptionally well,” Morgan said adding “Not lot of sides come through having good death bowlers. You look at past champions they stick out. Someone like Lasith Malinga has been injured in this tournament and no one has stood out at the death bowling.”
With bit of grass on the pitch, the Eden pitch is likely to give level playing field for both teams as West Indies power-hitting awaits smart cricket from Englishmen in their final push for the title.