On This Day: West Indies upset India in the semi-final of ICC World Twenty20 2016

West Indies upset India: The Caribbeans had chased down a formidable total to knockout India exactly four years ago.

During the second semi-final of the ICC World Twenty20 2016 between India and West Indies in Mumbai, West Indies had defeated India by 7 wickets to deny the hosts of a place in the final of the tournament after nine years.

Chasing a 193-run target, West Indies didn’t get off to the best of starts as they lost Chris Gayle (5) and Marlon Samuels (8) by the third over of their chase.

It was a 97-run partnership for the third wicket between Johnson Charles and Lendl Simmons which saw the visitors firming their grip on the match.

Despite dismissing Charles (52) in the 14th over, India didn’t receive a reprieve as West Indies all-rounder Andre Russell (43*) joined hand with Simmons to seal the chase with two balls remaining on the back of a match-winning 80-run partnership.

While the West Indian duo of Charles and Simmons did their best to lay a solid foundation by thrashing the Indian bowlers to all part of the ground, they received aids from India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and all-rounder Hardik Pandya who had overstepped when Simmons got caught while batting on 18 and 50 respectively.

Simmons, who had come in as a replacement for injured Andre Fletcher, top-scored for his team in a crucial chase by scoring 82* (51) with the help of seven fours and five sixes.

After West Indies captain Darren Sammy won the toss and invited India in to bat, the home team scored 192/2 in 20 overs primarily due to vice-captain Virat Kohli’s third half-century of the tournament. It was nothing but unfortunate that Kohli didn’t get to play the final match even after scoring 273 runs at an average of 136.50 and a strike rate of 146.77 in the World Cup.

West Indies upset India

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About the author

Dixit Bhargav

Born and brought up in Pathankot, Dixit Bhargav is an engineering and sports management graduate who works as a Cricket Editor at The SportsRush. Having written more than 10,000 articles across more than five years at TSR, his first cricketing memory dates back to 2002 when former India captain Sourav Ganguly had waved his jersey at the historic Lord’s balcony. What followed for an 8-year-old was an instant adulation for both Ganguly and the sport. The optimist in him is waiting for the day when Punjab Kings will win their maiden Indian Premier League title. When not watching cricket, he is mostly found in a cinema hall watching a Punjabi movie.

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