ICC World Twenty20: Marlon Samuels, Carlos Brathwaite shine as West Indies clinch second title

Kolkata: West Indies created history by winning their 2nd ICC World Twenty20 title on Sunday. They defeated a resilient England side by four wickets in the summit clash at the historic Eden Gardens, Kolkata.

In a humdinger of a match, the equation went down to 19 runs off 6 balls. England skipper Eoin Morgan gave the ball to Ben Stokes with Marlon Samuels and Carlos Brathwaite were in the middle for West Indies.

Brathwaite was on strike and the talented cricketer snatched the game from the jaws of defeat as he smacked four sixes off the first four balls to finish off the game in style.

Samuels played a crucial knock proving that he is a big match player. The stylish right-hander played a match-winning unbeaten knock of 85 off 66 balls, with the help of nine fours and two sixes.

However, it was a bumpy start for West Indies, who came to chase the challenging total of 156. Credit goes to part-timer offie Joe Root who proved his captain's gamble right by picking up the wickets of both openers Johnson Charles (1) and Chris Gayle (4) in his first over. Soon hero of last match for West Indies, Lendl Simmons, was also trapped in front by David Willey for a golden duck.

Dwayne Bravo chipped in with crucial 25 to forge a crucial 75-run partnership with Samuels.

But immediately after the fall of Bravo in the 14th over, Windies lost two more wickets in the form of Andre Russell and Darren Sammy in a heap as they were reduced to 107 for 6 in 15.3 overs. Then, the unbeaten 54-run partnership between Samuels and Brathwaite helped the Caribbean team to become the first one to win more than one WT20 titles.

Earlier, West Indian skipper Darren Sammy won the toss for the tenth consecutive time and asked England to bat first. Three Lions got off to a poor start as they lost both their openers – Jason Roy (0) and Alex Hales (1) inside first two overs. Soon they lost skipper Morgan cheaply as the batting side was reduced to 23 for 3.

But Jos Buttler (36 off 22 balls) and Joe Root added 61 runs for the 4th wicket to give their side some stability after the top order had collapsed.

In-form Root continued his good form with the willow as he slammed yet another fifty (54 off 36 balls).

In the death overs, David Willey's cameo of 21 off 14 balls took England past 150 as they eventually put up a fighting total in front of Windies.