The Twenty20 International between West Indies and India in Lauderhill, Florida witnessed an absolute humdinger with MS Dhoni failing to get India over the line as they lost by one run.
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489 runs. 32 sixes. Two hundreds coming from the batters. An over that conceded 32 runs. In the Twenty20 International at Lauderhill in Florida between West Indies and India on August 27, 2016, the ultimate Twenty20 International was being played. Records were broken left, right, and centre by both sides. At the end of the day, one could argue that the credentials of the ultimate finisher were being questioned.
There was no denying the fact that MS Dhoni, at that time, was the ultimate finisher in world cricket. Taking the game deep, MS Dhoni had a simple blueprint for batting. Utilise every single delivery and then shock the opponent with an onslaught towards the end. In the beginning, it would work. But, cracks were starting to develop in the batting blueprint of MS Dhoni. In several T20Is against England and Zimbabwe, MS Dhoni did not get India over the line. Although he was brilliant in ODIs and IPL, T20Is were proving to be his undoing.
MS Dhoni was once again called to get India over the line. All the hard work was done. But, in a spectacular development, he would fall short in a cruel way.
After India won the Test series 2-0, they entered the two-match Twenty20 International series that was to be played in the USA. India chose to bowl and immediately, the decision did not pay off. Johnson Charles blasted the Indian bowling right from the first over, hitting a six and two fours off Mohammed Shami. Evin Lewis showed his intent with a couple of boundaries but it was Charles who was decimating the Indian bowling. He raced to 31 off 13 balls.
The carnage went up a notch. Lewis hit a six and a four in the fifth over bowled by Jasprit Bumrah and Charles followed suit with a six. Charles notched up his fifty off just 20 balls with two big sixes off Ashwin as West Indies ended the powerplay on 78/0. Lewis also hit two sixes off Ravindra Jadeja and the 100 came up in the eighth over when Charles hit another six off Ashwin.
Charles came closer to his century with two sixes and a four off Jadeja. But, the partnership was broken when Shami dismissed Charles for 79 off 42 balls. In the 11th over, India made a big blunder and got Stuart Binny into the attack. Lewis blasted five sixes in the over as the bowler conceded 32 runs. Andre Russell immediately came into his groove and smashed a four and six off Bhuvneshwar. Lewis hit another six to near his century and Russell also cleared the boundary at will. Lewis notched up his century off just 48 runs in just his second T20I and West Indies looked to be in the groove.
Jadeja stemmed the flow of runs when he dismissed Lewis and Russell in the same over. Carlos Brathwaite and Kieron Pollard continued to punish the Indian bowling but Bumrah took two wickets in the final over. West Indies ended on 245/6, although they could have gone past 250 had India’s bowlers not bounced back in style. In the last four overs, West Indies managed only 40 runs. So, this represented a kind of fightback.
The momentum was now with India. Rohit Sharma got going with three boundaries off Samuel Badree. Although India lost Ajinkya Rahane cheaply, Rohit was in fine form. Virat Kohli looked good with three boundaries but he fell to the skill of Dwayne Bravo. KL Rahul started brilliantly, hitting two fours and a six off Sunil Narine as India almost matched the West Indies for run-rate.
Rahul had caught up with Rohit but the Mumbai batsman launched two sixes off Narine to near his fifty. Rahul was given a life when Russell dropped him on 36 off Brathwaite. Rohit notched up his fifty off just 22 balls with a six off his Mumbai Indians team-mate Kieron Pollard. After reaching his fifty, Rohit continued the onslaught with a four and six off Bravo. The stage was now set for an epic finish.
Pollard pegged India back by getting rid of Rohit for 62. But, with Rahul having got his eye in and notching a fifty off just 25 balls, India still had the momentum. Rahul hit two fours and a six off Narine as Dhoni got going with a boundary. With India needing 78 off 36 balls, they needed Rahul and Dhoni to pull off something spectacular. Rahul found the boundaries at will as he neared his century.
The 17th over saw some vintage hitting from Dhoni as he blasted two big sixes off Russell. Rahul hit a big six as 20 runs came in the 17th over. Bravo conceded just nine runs in the 18th over but Russell undid all the good work. Rahul notched up his century off just 46 balls with a big six. 16 runs came in the 19th over and India now had the chance to create history with just eight runs needed off six balls.
Bravo, who had kept the Indian batsmen on a tight leash, had the job of bowling to Dhoni, the greatest finisher of all times. The luck seemed to be with India as Marlon Samuels dropped a sitter at short third man off the very first ball. But, Bravo just kept calm and nailed the yorkers at will. He did not give any room to both Rahul and Dhoni as the equation boiled down to two runs off the final ball.
Bravo had used all his experience of playing for Chennai Super Kings and watching Dhoni bat. The Indian skipper walked across and Bravo bowled a slower, full ball slightly wide outside off. The ball gripped the surface and bounced a tad more. Dhoni went for the drive but he sliced it and Samuels, who had dropped a catch on the first ball, took the catch. Bravo celebrated and West Indies won the match by one run.
In the post-match interview, Bravo did acknowledge that he knew what to bowl in the final ball to counter Dhoni. “We know what MS can do. He can finish off the game with one hit. I wanted to ensure the first ball didn’t go for a boundary. I wanted to keep my composure and back my skills with the two balls: the slower one and the yorker. We wanted to keep midwicket in to prevent him from just hitting it towards that region. I was a touch apprehensive to bowl the slower delivery. But, I saw MS walking across and so bowled it and it worked out,” Bravo said.
West Indies would win the two-match series 1-0 after the second game was rained out. But, the first match showed the frailties of Dhoni the finisher, and the ‘champion’ mindset of Bravo.
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