World T20 final -Preview: “Champion” Windies set to face high-flying England for T20 supremacy
The ultimate T20 party specialists – the Windies – knocked out the hosts in their semi-final match and are arriving at the Eden Gardens singing the “Champion” song and dancing to the Calypso beats. Their opponents in the final, England reached Kolkata after dismantling the Kiwis, who looked unstoppable until they met Jason Roy. Both are former champions, and one of them will lift the World T20 title for the second time to go into the history books after the finale at Kolkata on Sunday.
The Windies have been on a good run in the World T20 beating South Africa, Sri Lanka, India, and England. Their only loss in the tournament came against minnows Afghanistan in a dead rubber match in the group stage. On paper, the Windies look the team to beat boasting of “fifteen match winners”, as their skipper Darren Sammy said. In batting, they have the ultimate destructor in Chris Gayle, who scored a century against England earlier in the tournament. Lendl Simmons arrived as a replacement for Andre Fletcher for the semi-final match against India and played a match-winning knock of 82 off 51 balls, while Johnson Charles, Marlon Samuels, Dwayne Bravo and Andre Russell have also made their presence when required.
West Indies also have a wealth of all-round riches in their team in Dwayne Bravo, Andre Russell, Carlos Brathwaite and Darren Sammy. Their batting is filled with power hitters, while the bowling also packs a punch with two specialist spinners in Samuel Badree and Suleiman Benn turning their arms over. Andre Russell is their leading wicket-taker in the tournament with eight followed by Badree and Bravo with seven and six respectively.
On the other hand, England arrived on the Indian shores as the underdogs and quietly made it to the semi-final going down only to West Indies in the group stage. In the semi-final, they stopped the Kiwi juggernaut with some good death bowling and a masterclass from Jason Roy. On the batting front, the 2010 World T20 champions are capable of matching up to any of the top teams with Jason Roy, Alex Hales, Joe Root, Eoin Morgan and Jos Buttler in their armoury.
The bowling has been the weak link for England in the tournament with no big names in their line-up. David Willey and Chris Jordan have given a good account of themselves picking seven and six wickets respectively, but the duo has also leaked runs going at more than eight an over. With the pitch at the Eden Gardens likely to assist spinners, England will be hoping for better performances from their bowlers, especially the spinners, Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali.
The Pitch
The last match at the Eden Gardens was on March 26, between New Zealand and Bangladesh. A total of 18 wickets fell on the day with just 215 runs coming from the batsman. Reports in the media have indicated that the ICC has changed the pitch for the final and will be a sporting wicket, which will offer assistance to the batsmen and the bowlers. But going by the record of the media reports about the pitches, it is highly unlikely that we will see a high-scoring match on Sunday. A slow and low wicket will put the onus on the spinners from both sides to take their teams to their second World T20 titles.
Head to Head
When the last time these two teams met in a T20I, the Gayle storm took away England’s hopes of a win at the Wankhede in the opening game of Group 1. In fact, England are yet to beat West Indies in the T20 World Cup having lost the last four meetings. The 2012 World T20 champions, Windies, also hold the advantage when it comes to ICC event finals. West Indies beat England both in the inaugural World Cup and the 2004 Champions Trophy and will walk in today as clear favorites.
Likely XI
Both teams are unlikely to make any changes to their respective teams, which played in the semi-final, barring any late injuries.
England: Jason Roy, Alex Hales, Joe Root, Eoin Morgan (c), Jos Buttler (wk), Ben Stokes, Moeen Ali, Chris Jordan, Adil Rashid, David Willey, Liam Plunkett
West Indies: Chris Gayle, Johnson Charles, Lendl Simmons, Marlon Samuels, Denesh Ramdin (wk), Dwayne Bravo, Andre Russell, Darren Sammy (c) Carlos Brathwaite, Sulieman Benn, Samuel Badree