On This Day In 2012: West Indies lived up to their tag of favourites at the 2012 men’s ICC T20 World Cup in Sri Lanka and defeated the hosts in the final to be crowned champions for the first time on this day, October 7. After their power packed batting line-up flexed its dominance against opposition attacks for most of the campaign, the Caribbean side showcased their bowling skill and strong temperament in the final in Colombo.
In a rare outing, where some of their mighty power hitters failed, anchor Marlon Samuels played perhaps the innings of his career.
A dark horse of the batting unit beaming with the presence of Chris Gayle, Kieron Pollard, Dwayne Bravo and Andre Russell, Samuels struck his third and most important half-century of the tournament,
scoring 78 off 56 deliveries. While wickets kept tumbling at the other end, Samuels batted with belief and control to take his team to 137/6.
What stood out was how Samuels smashed Sri Lanka’s ace death bowler, Lasith Malinga. Anticipating the yorker and standing deep inside the crease, Samuels reduced Malinga to a clueless state for once and hammered him straight down the ground. The great limited-overs bowler finished with shocking figures of 0/54, undoing what could’ve easily been a decisive spell of 4 for 12 at the other end by Ajantha Mendis.
High on confidence at the time, the West Indies had been provided the fighting chance they desperately needed by Samuels. West Indies rallied together to defend the 138-run target, delivering a memorable bowling performance.
The spin trio of Samuel Badree (1/24), Sunil Narine (3/9) and Samuels (1/15) controlled the proceedings pre and post powerplay, never allowing Sri Lanka to get away with the game.
Sri Lanka depended heavily on their opener Tillakaratne Dilshan to lay the foundation to their chase but he fell to Ravi Rampaul (1/31) without opening his account. Even the legendary duo of Mahela Jayawardene (33) and Kumar Sangakkara (22) never found any rhythm to their innings at the crease. Once those three departed, Sri Lanka collapsed and folded for 101 in front of a packed home crowd in Colombo.
The last Sri Lankan player to be dismissed was Malinga who handed an easy catch at long-on to Dwayne Bravo.
West Indies celebrated like only they can, bringing the song, dance and their inimitable flair to the most memorable post-match scenes and lifting their maiden T20 World Cup crown.
