Welcome to the over-by-over commentary of the semi-finals of the World Twenty20 championship between West Indies and India at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. This is Sriram Srinivasan bringing you the updates.
What a powerful performance it has been by the West Indies team! That too, after Gayle’s early exit. Simmons, a late replacement for the injured Fletcher, won’t forget this innings in a hurry. He has scored 83 of 51 balls to put his team with a chance at winning the world T20 crown for the second time. Don’t forget how he was dismissed twice of no balls and was once caught by Jadeja while his foot was touching the boundary rope.
On the Indian side, what more could have Kohli done, especially after his stupendous batting and effective bowling. Shouldn’t Dhoni have brought him for his second over earlier? The captain may probably feel let down by both his spinners. In the end, the wicket did seem to be a batting paradise, one in which 192 wasn’t a good enough target. West Indies now plays England for the cup.
>> India has lost. Russell hits a six to seal the deal.
>> This is less edge-of-the-seat stuff than a nervous resignation to an impending West Indies win. Kohli bowls the last over.
>> For four balls, Jadeja seems to be bowling a dream 19th over, hardly letting anything go. On the fifth, Russell hits a length ball for six. And on the sixth, another four. The Windies need just eight of the last over. Can the Windies mess this up?
>> After 18 overs Can anyone get Simmons out today? After three fantastic dot balls by Bumrah, Simmons manages to hit him to the long on where Jadeja on the boundary edge catches the ball before lobbing it to Kohli. Only, Jadeja is found to have stepped on to the boundary rope. He is called back by the umpires for the third time today. Result: a six. Simmons ends the over with another boundary. 2 overs to go. 20 to win. India’s only hope is that West Indies messes this up.
>> After 17 overs Nehra ends his spell with a 10-run over, including a six that showed how powerful Russell is. It didn’t immediately seem as if he was in the right position for the shot nor did he time it as well as he would have liked it. Three to go, 32 runs to get. Run rates don’t matter anymore. India needs wickets. The match is West Indies’ to lose.
>> After 16 overs Why isn’t Kolhi bowling this over? Bumrah is given the ball and delivers a decent performance till Simmons spoils it all with a beautiful straight six. Four overs to go. 42 to win. Who does Dhoni go to now?
>> After 15 overs Simmons is playing a charmed innings. Twice he has been caught off a no ball. This time, the culprit is Pandya. And the free hit that follows it is dispatched nonchalantly over mid-wicket. West Indies quickly shrug off the Kohli over, and the momentum is back with them. 18 runs from this over, including 10 from Russell. One six hit from him was so long that even the umpire seemed in awe of it.
>> After 14 overs There is nothing that Virat Kohli can’t do, I hear on TV in the brief moment my eyes are off it. Dhoni throws the ball at him, and Kohli obliges first ball. Kohli is the unlikely wrecker of the brilliant partnership between Charles and Simmons. Charles departs. What more, Kohli gives away just four runs. For sure, he will get another over. He has to! What will West Indies do from here?
>> After 13 overs Ah, the Win Predictor now favours West Indies to win this one. Not only are Charles and Simmons working the target well and with momentum, India seems a bit clueless about this. Not many chances also being created. In fact, not one if I look beyond Bumrah’s catch of an Ashwin no ball. The stadium is quiet. And that’s quite another indicator. In the meantime, Simmons helps his team get 12 runs from a Jadeja over.
>> After 12 overs Charles gets his 50 but Pandya pulls it back a bit. Just seven of this over. 89 required from 48 balls now.
>> Simmons joining the party now. Jadeja is hit for a six and then a four by Simmons. 13 of the over. The required rate is coming down each over. Who will Dhoni turn to to turn the tide again in India’s favour?
>> Charles is putting his hand up for the Windies. He has repeated the six and four routine, with Pandya this time. Pandya beats Charles with some late movement but not before leaking 12 runs in the over. Charles has built some serious momentum now. Game on!
>> After nine overs, Who would have guessed prior to the match that the Windies would target Ashwin with relish. Charles does it on his team’s behalf, with a six over mid-wicket and a four. Ashwin’s economy rate is 10 after two overs. After nine overs, West Indies needs 121 from 11 overs. That's exactly 11 an over.
>> After eight overs, Hardik Pandya is now in operation, and is largely sticking to his short of a length zone. Eight runs of the over. India will take that gladly.
>> After seven overs, What a catch by Bumrah! No, wait. It’s off a no ball, and Simmons lives to play another delivery. Ashwin, off all bowlers, is the culprit. The following ‘free hit’ delivery yields nothing, as Ashwin tactically bowls wide of the batsman but of course not wide enough to be called so by the umpire.
>> Simmons hits Ravindra Jadeja’s third delivery for a handsome straight six. Eleven runs of the over. Enough momentum?
>> After five overs, Nehra is angry with himself for giving a short-pitch gift to Lendl Simmons, who dispatches it for a boundary. You have to give it to Nehra. What a comeback he has had at this age. In three overs, even after that boundary, he has given away just 15 runs.
>> After four overs, could Charles be that man? He scores two boundaries of Bumrah’s first two deliveries around the mid-wicket, fine leg regions. The rest of the over is quiet. West Indies has a mountain to climb. It definitely seems a mountain with Gayle not in the equation anymore.
>> Samuels plays a bizarre shot to get caught off Nehra. Three boundaries have been scored in the eleven balls since Bumrah bowled the magical full-lengther to get rid of Gayle. But the runs are far from being a big deal. With Gayle out, and now Samuels, can West Indies make a match of it?
>> Jasprit Bumrah is the man of the moment. He claims Gayle, clean bowled, off his first delivery. It’s a masterstroke by Dhoni. Ashwin was expected to bowl the second over. And Dhoni threw the ball at Bumrah! And the bowler hasn't given enough time for the commentators to debate whether it should have been Ashwin instead. India is clearly on top.
>> Gayle is known to show patience in the initial stages of an innings. So how long can you keep Gayle quiet? Nehra manages to do so for three balls before Gayle employs an elegant pull to earn his first boundary. Not much action beyond that.
>> Kohli was again unstoppable, ending unbeaten on 89 from a mere 47 balls. Actually, West Indies could have had him early. He could have been run out thrice in two balls. Two catches were missed. A charmed life?
The focus during the run up to this match was on just two players: Gayle and Kohli. The latter has delivered. Will Gayle do the same? Has India got enough on the board?
Who will bowl first for India? Who will Gayle face first? The crafty veteran Ashish Nehra? Or the versatile R. Ashwin?
>> After 20 overs, India 192/2. You can trust Kohli and Dhoni to run a three at the Wankhede stadium. Of course, it helped that there was an overthrown. But, what energy! Bravo does his best not to give any pace. Still, India ekes out 12 of that over. India makes 192 at the end of 20 overs.
Not a typical Wankhede wicket, says Rahane on TV. The ball was stopping a bit, especially when the slower bowlers were in operation, he suggests. That would be reassuring for India.
>> Kohli ups the rate and how! Two fours and a six off Russell, whose economy rate looks poor even by T20 standards. He has given away 19 in his last over. On another note, it’s such a treat to watch Kohli and Dhoni run between the wickets.
>> India may feel they aren’t on full gear, as Bravo keeps India’s tally from the 18th over to 11 runs. It would have been worse, if Brathwaite had pulled off what could have been a sensational catch to dismiss Kohli. His straight pull instead reached the ropes. He earns another boundary through a handsome drive.
>> Was it a sweep? Was it a scoop? Dhoni begins Brathwaite’s last over with, let’s say a sweepy scoop, for a boundary. Kohli effects a reluctant pull to the long-on region but not before a handsome pull for four. The over ends with a mis-hit to the third man boundary. This 17-run over is the gear shift India was looking for.
>> Indian fans would be expecting fireworks now, as Dhoni joins Kohli. That’s because Rahane is out trying to up the scoring rate, mistiming to the square leg boundary where Bravo takes the catch and breaks into a celebration. Just six runs from this Russell over. The gear shift hasn’t really come about. Just 24 more balls to go.
>> Both Kohli and Rahane are on 40 after the 15th over. Kohli beautifully slices, on the bounce, a full ball over two fielders in the point region for a boundary. But little joy for India apart from that one this over. Brathwaite concedes just seven in that over. That’s something!
>> This is better. Two eleven-run overs, back to back. Benn ends his quota wicketless, going for 36 runs. That doesn’t seem such a bad economy rate in a ground where 200-plus targets have been easily achieved.
>> India is doing well but is it enough. Boundaries seem hard to come by. Kohli gets one of Bravo finally in this over, after 17 deliveries. The ball is whipped to the square leg region where Russell tries in vain to keep the ball from getting to the boundary.
>> Seven runs an over at this stage wouldn’t bother West Indies much. So, they should be happy with Benn’s effort. It is over in a flash.
>> After 11 overs, India 91/1. It’s a no-boundary over from Brathwaite. The running between the wickets of this pair is superlative. India just adds five runs to end the eleventh over at 91 for one.
>> Badree ends his four-over spell without damaging his opponents further. Largely a quiet one but for a long hop, which is promptly pulled by Rahane for four.
>> Bravo’s first has enough drama. Kohli escapes getting run out thrice in two balls – yes THRICE! After getting beaten by a slower ball, Kohli cheekily tries a bye. Wicket-keeper Ramdin’s throw misses the stumps. Then, Bravo picks it up on the follow through and tries to thrown the stumps down. On both occasions, the target is missed by a whisker and Kohli lives on. The next delivery, Kohli comes back for a tight two and Ramdin fails to collect the throw cleanly. Kohli was clearly struggling. Could these be costly misses for the West Indies?
>> After 8, India 66-1. Badree strikes, removing Rohit Sharma with a straight one. That brings Kohli in. Badree keeps it tight, and India ends over eight at 66 for one.
>> After 7, India 62-0. Benn is back for a relatively quiet over – 7 runs this time. India gets to 62 without loss. It does seem an easy wicket for batsmen. So while the going is good for India, it would be worth pondering as to what would be a good score here. 200-plus scores have been easily surmounted here in earlier matches.
>> After six overs, India 55-0. The crowd has come alive in this over, as Sharma treats them to back-to-back sixers and backs it with a pull for a four. The first six was off a Russell delivery that was no-balled for being over the waist. The second six was a beauty, a straight six. India rush to 55 without loss at the end of powerplay.
>> So we know why Benn replaced Badree. The leg spinner skips an over to bowl from the other end. The scoreboard for India continues to tick, nonetheless. Rahane gets a boundary this time through the third man region, courtesy a miscued inside out shot. Bravo saves another boundary with some nifty footwork – he could well have collected it with his hands!
>> Two consecutive fours by Sharma of the 6 ft. 7 inch tall Sulieman Benn is the momentum India needed after a relatively quiet start. Eleven runs of that over. Can’t help feeling Badree should have continued.
>> After three overs, India 15-0 . Carlos Brathwaite replaces Andre Russell and is promptly dispatched for six over long on by Sharma. Still, need more evidence that it’s a batsman’s paradise! India end the third over without much further fuss at 15-0.
>> Badree quickly gets his over done, as he always does. He bowls tightly – just four runs let in the second over – and for a moment has Sharma in some trouble with a googly. No damage for India, though.
>> Just two runs off the first over , one of them thanks to Samuel Badree’s misfield. It doesn’t seem as easy a batting surface as it was made out to be, on the evidence of the first six balls. Sharma was beaten by a ball that deviated off the pitch, and Rahane had some extra bounce to reckon with.
The anthems have been sung, and Rohit Sharma ready to face Andre Russell.
Sanjay Manjrekar says in his pitch report on TV that the pitch is full of runs. "It's a batting paradise." Pity the bowlers!
West Indies have brought in Gayle and Lendl Simmons – no surprises here. Evin Lewis misses out. And of course, Simmons was in for the injured Andre Fletcher.
The battle is between two Twenty20 teams filled with stars and yet how difficult is it not to keep the focus on just two of them: Chris Gayle and Virat Kohli. Yesterday, when asked about the Kohli factor, West Indies captain Darren Sammy couldn’t resist asking back, “…have you ever heard of Chris Gayle?”
But the other factor that had kept the energy levels in the pre-match chatter up was the absence of Yuvraj Singh owing to injury. It was seen as a toss up between right-handed batsman Manish Pandey and left-arm spinner Pawan Negi. Pandey has got a look in. India has also included Ajinkya Rahane in the place of Shikhar Dhawan.
