ICC T20 World Cup 2016: 5 Hits and 5 Misses from the Super 10 Stage

Hit: West Indies

West Indies romped in to the semis winning their first three games.

Less than a month before the World T20 began, many of the members of the West Indies team were embroiled in a controversy regarding payments made to them by the West Indies Cricket Board. It was feared that the impasse wouldn’t be resolved and the West Indies would field a second string squad for the marquee T20 tournament. However, better sense prevailed and many of the Caribbean T20 stars boarded the flight for India.

Given the very little practice the 2012 champions had before the tournament and the very little time they had to gel among themselves, it is indeed remarkable that they made it to the last 4, topping their group in the process. While their spinners Sulieman Benn and Samuel Badree made merry in spin friendly conditions, their pacers Andre Russell and Dwayne Bravo baffled batsmen with their clever variations.

In the batting department, they weren’t completely reliant on Chris Gayle as other batsmen like Andre Fletcher and Marlon Samuels rose to the occasion when it mattered. Yes they did lose their last group game against Afghanistan, but if the men from the Caribbean continue to perform the way they did in the previous group games, they will surely be singing Dwayne Bravo’s rendition of ‘Champion’ come 3rd April.