10 Factors That Made The West Indies Win The World T20I 2016

The Caribbean Cricket Team, like the Caribbean Pirates came over to the subcontinent and stole away the World T20I Cup 2016. Along with the Cup, they have stolen our hearts. Before the start of the tournament, the Windies were never the favorites. They even had their differences with their own Cricket Board. But Brathwaite's four consecutive sixes in the last over of the final match against England sums up the Windies campaign. Amidst all their hardships and differences, Sammy's men let fearlessness prevail. Crapanalytics has come up with a list of ten factors that made the Windies World T20I champions again.

1. The feeling of us against the world

 As i said before, nobody would have put their money on this team before the start of the                tournament. At the end of the match, an emotional Captain Sammy talked about how the WICB was unwilling to send the men in this squad to play despite having a solid T20I record. The players also had an ongoing dispute with the board regarding pay. The team received inspiring messages from Prime Minister of St. Lucia, Keny Anthony (I assume this is whom Sammy meant) but they were still to hear from their cricket board. Sammy talked about the fact that they had no uniforms and money for print. Coach Phil arranged these things for the team in Kolkata. One of the commentators, Mark Nicholas even went on to describe them as short of brains. Amidst this atmosphere, the team was united by a common cause i.e. to prove to the world what an amazing bunch of cricketers they are. They did so in flair and style by winning the Cup for the West Indian fans and the West Indian cricketers.

2. Darren Sammy's charismatic leadership

Sammy giving a moving speech about the story 

behind his men winning the World T20I

That speech after the final made everyone aware of the champions' difficult journey to glory. Sammy proved that he is the perfect captain even before a match started by winning ten consecutive tosses in the entire tournament including the warm-ups. Hence, he was at a liberty of when to bat and when to bowl in each match. Let me remind you that this is the same captain who led the West Indies to victory in 2012. Sammy proved to an efficient leader under whom the West Indians fought to redeem themselves and they did!

3. Amazing individual performances

 

Simmons, Samuels and Gayle

In the final, it was Marlon Samuels who saw his team to victory after the loss of early wickets. His 85* is the highest individual score in a World T20I final. The second highest score is also by him i.e 78 against Sri Lanka in 2012. He was assisted by Brathwaite who finished the final and the entire West Indian campaign with flair and style. Brathwaite's 24 in the last over is the highest score by any team in the last over to win a T20I. In the semi final against India, it was Simmons who rose to the occasion. Gayle was the hero in the match against South Africa. Badree and Russell proved themselves useful by taking 9 wickets each throughout the tournament.

4. And an amazing performance as a team

The West Indies team was phenomenal in the field throughout the tournament. One thing characteristic of the West Indian batting was that whenever a batsman was dismissed, another one took up his place and kept the scoreboard moving. In each match, there was atleast one batsman who stayed till the end and saw the team to victory. In the bowling department, we saw some stellar bowling performances by Badree and Russell. The team was stacked very well with all rounders who could bowl well. The main players were under a state of conflict with the cricket board regarding pay and other things. But skipper Sammy has utilised these negotiations to help kindle team spirit and forge a powerful T20 unit that became a champion.

5. Their ability to play fearless cricket

“West Indies are [some] of the most dangerous competitors. The way they play cricket is fearless. You can't expect what's coming. You've got to be ready in all departments,” remarked Rohit Sharma before the semi final match against West Indies. The West Indians were not afraid to take chances as we saw in the match against India. Simmons escaped atleast two dismissal situations in the match. When a team comprises of lower order batsmen who can hit as well as the top or middle order, one can take such gambles. And as fortune favors the brave, West Indies are the World T20I champions.

6. The West Indies have excelled in the subcontinent conditions

If we leave behind the first three World T20I tournaments, then we'll find that West Indies are the only team to have qualified for three back to back tournaments in 2012, 2014 and of course 2016. Till date, they have played 16 T20Is in subcontinent venues in World T20, winning 10 of them and losing five. When it comes to subcontinent conditions, they are the third team in the list with most wins in World T20. Apart from this, many Caribbean players are quite favourable to the Indian conditions because of Indian Premier League and their three main players — Chris Gayle, Andre Russell and Dwayne Bravo have been consistent and among the top performers in the tournament.

7. Presence of quality all-rounders

Brathwaite, Sammy and Russell

Barring Johnson Charles, Andre Fletcher and Denesh Ramdin, almost all the West Indies players can hit hard and bowl as well. It starts with Chris Gayle, Darren Sammy, Andre Russell, Dwayne Bravo and Carlos Brathwaite. Their deep batting is their strength and variety of all-rounders will add up to it.

8. They had to match their women

Earlier in the day, West Indian women made history at Kolkata itself by winning their first ever Women World T20I by ending Australian reign at the top for several years. The win was powered by 18-year-old Windies opener Hayley Matthews stunning 66 off 45 balls with three sixes, in a stand of 120. The skipper, Stafanie Taylor had received a text that morning from Darren Sammy which read 'Staf you are going to do it, you girls you are going to do it'." Hearing the news of womens' victory the West Indian men must have thought that they can't go home as the runners up while the women return as champions. Hence, the day ended as a double treat for the West Indies.

9. They have genuine cricketing talent 

Sir Gary Sobers, Brian Lara and Clive Llyod

From the mid-1970s to the early 1990s, the West Indies team was one of the strongest in the world in both Test and One Day International cricket. A number of cricketers considered among the best in the world have hailed from the West Indies: Sir Garfield Sobers, Brian Lara, Clive Lloyd, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Courtney Walsh and Sir Viv Richards have all been inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame among others. The West Indies were the first team to win back-to-back World Cups (1975 and 1979), and appeared in three consecutive World Cup finals (1975, 1979 and 1983). Add to this, the fact that they won the T20I World Cup in 2012 as well. These are stats enough to show that West Indies has been in the business of producing world class cricketers since a long time back and they continue to do so even today.

10. This amazing song from DJ Bravo

This song from DJ Bravo became the unofficial anthem

for the West Indies this tournament.

It has over 3 million views on Youtube. The song has become popular in India after the victorious West Indian campaign. Yes, India lost to the West Indies in the semi finals but we set aside that loss to join the West Indians in the celebrations of their Cinderella story because irrespective of the team lifting up the trophy, it is Cricket that is the Champion every time!

Indians joining the West Indian team in their celebrations