Kolkata: “Hoye jaabe, aaram se.” It will be done with ease. That was Eden’s mood at the final drinks break as the cauldron bounced, lights on mobiles flashing, to the tune of “Chak de India.”
India needed 60 off the last six with seven wickets in hand. Tilak Verma fell to a stupendous catch by Shimron Hetmyer, giving Jason Holder his second wicket of the night. However, with Sanju Samson (not out on 70 off 40 balls) doing Sanju Samson things, the confidence coursing through the rafters was justified.
This was especially true after Holder floored a simple offering from Hardik Pandya in the 17th over. India had never chased down 196 before but then no team have successfully defended a World Cup title either. After a five-wicket win, India can do that.
If West Indies’s score of 195/4 was not enough it was because of two reasons. The first, of course, was Jasprit Bumrah and the 12th over of the innings he bowled. More of that in a bit because Shai Hope ‘s 33-ball 32 deserves mention first.
The West Indies skipper has never really got going in this tournament, scores of 61 and 75 against Nepal and Italy notwithstanding. Like Surya Kumar Yadav, who won the toss and put West Indies in, Hope had said he would have wanted to bat second. But in conditions good for batting, Hope’s inability to get going meant that West Indies were possibly 15-20 runs short.
About Bumrah now. Varun Chakravarty had, like he often does, struck in his first over, removing Hope with a googly that followed one that had spun away. Back from the Club House End, Bumrah’s slower delivery dismissed Roston Chase, West Indies’s highest scorer at 40, Yadav taking a fine catch. This was two balls after he had induced a nick from Hetmyer that was upheld by DRS.
From 102/1, West Indies were 103/3. It could have been 103/4 had Verma not spilled an offering from Sherfane Rutherford but in the end, it didn’t matter.
Chase opening the innings was a surprise India may not have expected but then West Indies had done this before, at least once in a knockout game in the T20 World Cup. Remember Lendl Simmons and how he batted like a hurricane and took India out in the 2016 T20 World Cup? On Sunday, in another winners-take-all match, they decided to try out someone who had never opened before.
The long-limbed batter settled into the role well. It didn’t matter that Hope and then Hetmyer kept him off strike for long spells. It didn’t matter that he was almost run-out early in a communication mix-up that would have been embarrassing anywhere, let alone a high-stakes Super 8 match.
The only time before Sunday West Indies had crossed 50 without losing a wicket was in their first match, against Scotland. Chase helped rectify that. He got going with a lofted drive and then a cover-drive off Arshdeep Singh. He reverse-scooped Bumrah and then made the most of a reprieve being dropped by Abhishek Sharma on 14.
With a high backlift and movement in the crease, including but not restricted to moving inside the line to sweep, and with that very West Indian ability to stand tall and deliver, Chase then hit Hardik Pandya for a six to bring up the innings’ 50. A reverse-sweep for four off Patel followed.
From losing four wickets in the power play against South Africa West Indies would have taken 45/0 after six overs, but maybe that was also when the initiative was lost.
Rovman Powell (34 off 19) and Jason Holder (37 off 22), Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) players present and past, hit freely adding 75 for the fifth wicket in 35 balls. Singh went for 24 in the innings’ 16th over, then next one yielded 14 and the 18th 12.
If that was not enough, it was because Bumrah bowled that over. Self-aware, confident in his ability and with an uncluttered mind, Bumrah tilted the momentum India’s way. Samson then took it away from the team that have never lost a T20 match at Eden. West Indies needed someone to bat longer. For some time, it looked like Chase would do that. And then he ran into Bumrah.
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