T20 World Cup 2016: Second crown for Windies

With 19 required in the last over in the final, Carlos Brathwaite stole the thunder with four sixes in four balls off an inconsolable Ben Stokes as the West Indies became the most successful team at the event with two titles to its name.

West Indies batsmen Marlon Samuels and Carlos Brathwaite celebrate their team's victory over England in the ICC World Cup Twenty20 cricket championship final at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.

With the player body in disarray following a payments dispute with the cricket board, the West Indies played the 2016 World Twenty20 with determination to clinch a second title and survive an existential crisis as a cricketing nation. To add to its woes, bigwigs Kieron Pollard and Sunil Narine were unavailable.

Chris Gayle set the tone for the team in the opener with an unbeaten 48-ball 100 as the Windies sailed past England’s 182 with six wickets in hand and 11 balls to spare at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. A seven-wicket demolition of defending champion Sri Lanka and a hard-fought chase against South Africa in a low-scoring match in Nagpur meant the West Indies was all but through to the semifinal.

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The only setback came in a shock defeat to qualifier Afghanistan as Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi claimed four wickets between them to deny West Indies in a chase of 124.

Power-hitters Lendl Simmons (82 not out off 51) and Andre Russell (43 not out off 20) helped the West Indies beat India by seven wickets in the semifinal. Chasing 193, the Windies suffered early dismissals of Gayle and Marlon Samuels. But opener Johson Charles (52 off 36) and Simmons then stitched together a 97-run partnership before Russell pitched in and sealed the match with a four and a six in the 20th over.

After opting to bowl first at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata in the final, the West Indies restricted England to 155/9 as Joe Root and Jos Buttler showed resistance to lift their side from 23 for three.

The chase hobbled with Root removing openers Gayle and Charles in the second over. Samuels then played the innings of his career with an unbeaten 85 off 66 balls — the highest individual score in a World Twenty20 final. With 19 required in the last over, Carlos Brathwaite, included in the squad as replacement for Pollard, stole the thunder with four sixes in four balls off an inconsolable Ben Stokes as the West Indies became the most successful team at the event with two titles to its name.