Defending champions West Indies breezed into the semifinals of the World Twenty20 - after India, South Africa and Sri Lanka – after they thrashed Pakistan by 84 runs in their do-or-die encounter at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium yesterday.
It’s not a common scene of Chris Gayle running all over the field and throwing himself to save a run and this dedication from him yesterday staged exactly how important the match was for the Caribbeans.
Medium fast bowler Krishmar Santokie trapped Pakistan’s last match centurion Ahmed Shehzad LBW in the very first ball of their innings as they never recovered from the early blow.
It was then left to the two West Indian spinners - Samuel Badree and the No 1 T20 bowler Sunil Narine - who spun the Pakistani batters in their whirlpool.
Skipper Mohammad Hafeez’s 19 was the highest for Pakistan as the rest surrendered cheaply to leg spinner Badree, who took three for 10, and Narine who bagged three for 16. Pakistan, who reached at least the last four stage in all previous occasion of the event, were bundled out for only 82 runs in 17.5 overs.
Earlier, the West Indies side was also in a spot of bother early in their innings having lost both Gayle and Dwayne Smith inside 22 runs.
However, Lendl Simmons (31) and Marlon Samuels (20) reconstructed the innings adding 39 runs for the third wicket before the late surge from Dwayne Bravo and captain Darren Sammy took them past 150, which at one point looked a distant dream.
Bravo and Sammy joined in the middle with their side reeling at 81 for 5 in 14 overs, but the duo exhibited an array of power hitting to bring 71 runs in just 32 balls.
The dominant of the two, Bravo smashed two sixes and a four in the 18th over by Umar Gul and followed it with a 24-run over off Saeed Ajmal where he launched three huge sixes.
Man of the match Bravo was eventually run out in the last over making 46 off just 26 balls while Sammy remained unbeaten on 42 off 20 balls with five fours and two sixes taking West Indies to a challenging 166/6.