Colombo: Chris Gayle smashed a blistering unbeaten 75 as West Indies stormed into their maiden ICC World T20 final with a crushing 74-run victory over a listless Australia here on Friday.
Opting to bat, Gayle butchered the Australian bowlers with a 41-ball 75-run innings as West Indies notched up 205 for four, which is the highest total of this edition.
“It was a good performance from the team; we needed this win badly. To come here and turn the tables [on Australia after their defeat in the group stages] is very pleasing. It’s key for me to be there for the 20th over. The support from Marlon Samuels helped a lot and [Dwayne] Bravo played his part. I’m really happy with the chance to win a World Cup for the first time,” said Man-of-the-Match Gayle.
“I think this World Cup is going to be ours. Sorry Sri Lanka, but it’s West Indies all the way. I think it will be a good final, but West Indies will be on top,” he added, a touch brazenly.
The Caribbean team then returned to skittle out Australia for a paltry 131 to set up a summit clash with Sri Lanka on Sunday.
Australian skipper George Bailey put up a fight with a 29-ball 63, which was laced with six fours and four sixes, but he was let down by the other batsmen, who returned to the pavilion without much to show.
Leg-spinner Samuel Badree (2/27) removed openers David Warner (1) and Shane Watson (7) in his first three overs, while Marlon Samuels got rid of Mike Hussey (18) as Australia were tottering at 42 for three after the six overs of Powerplay ended.
On a strip where Gayle and Co made batting look easy, the Australians were all at sea. Both Watson and Warner tried to play shots that can’t be played when the ball keeps low, while Mike Hussey was consumed by the slowness of the track.
Earlier, Gayle hit five fours and half a dozen of towering sixes as West Indies made a mockery of Aussie attack.
Marlon Samuels with 26, Dwayne Bravo with a 31-ball-37 and Kieron Pollard (38, 15 balls) also matched Gayle stroke for stroke to help the Windies cross the 200-mark.
Left-arm spinner Xavier Doherty, who had looked unplayable on the same track during Super Eights, was hammered for 48 runs in his three overs including 25 from the final one which had four sixes. Half of the 14 sixes in West Indies innings were hit off Doherty’s bowling.
Teams have often complained about the Premadasa track and difficulty in stroke-making but Gayle showed that if you have brute power, then nature of pitches become irrelevant.
The decision to promote Marlon Samuels up the order also partially paid off as he didn’t take much time to settle down before he started tonking the bowlers.
Samuels during his brief stay smashed 26 off 20 balls including a six each off left-arm spin duo of Doherty and Brad Hogg. He was deceived by a slower delivery from Pat Cummins, which send him back to the dug-out.
Gayle-Samuels had put on 41 runs in only 4.3 overs in which Samuels was the dominant partner.
Gayle, on the other hand, hit his first six off Shane Watson over long-off and the second one came off Doherty’s bowling as it went sailing into the deep mid-wicket stand.
“We were outplayed and full credit to the West Indies. Chris Gayle was quiet at first, but you have that thought in the back of your mind that he’s dangerous and he did his thing at the back end of the innings,” said Bailey.
Windies skipper Sammy looked positively towards the final. “We did what we had to do. In our most crucial game everyone turned out. We knew we needed our A-game to beat Australia. We’ve got one more hurdle to jump, Sri Lanka are a tough team to beat and hopefully we’ll come out victorious.” (PTI)