Agencies
Mumbai, March 31: The silence here at the Wankhede Stadium was comparable to the one when Sunil Gavaskar was bowled by Phillip DeFreitas in the semifinal of the 1987 50-over World Cup. It seemed the same sort of sadness had engulfed the stadium when Andre Russell (403 n o, 20b, 3×4, 4×6) hit Virat Kohli out of the ground to help West Indies knockout India out of the T20 World Cup. Put into bat, the hosts had scored 192 for the loss of two wickets in 20 overs riding on Kohli’s (89 n o, 47b, 11×4, 1×6) knock. The West Indies, in spite of Chris Gayle’s early departure knocked off the victory target with consummate ease with two balls to spare. The star of the show was Lendl Simmons (82 n o, 51b, 7×4, 5×6), who had just arrived 24 hour before the game as a replacement for the injured Andre Fletcher. It was ‘veni, vidi, vici’ for Simmons as the Windies won by seven wickets. Amid the West Indian celebrations, a deathly silence engulfed the ground as the Indians walked off. Sachin Tendulkar slumped on to a chair and did not move for long, the duo of Mukesh and Nita Ambani had the smiles swept off their faces, Anil Kapoor was trying desperately to hide the feeling of hopelessness engulfing him. A collage of pictures aptly conveying how the entire nation felt. That same group was smiling broadly when the Kohli fireworks were on. The Tricolour was fluttering strongly and the win was foregone conclusion. The smiles grew bigger, the noise louder when Jasprit Bumrah bowled Gayle with a peach of a yorker and Marlon Samuels was dismissed a few balls later by Ashish Nehra. But then things started to go the other way. First, Johnson Charles (52, 36b, 7×4, 2×6) and Simmons put on 97 runs for the third wicket, before Kohli dismissed the former with his first ball of the match. But that was the last time, the stadium applauded as Russell and Simmons delivered the final nail on the Indian coffin. Simmons was lucky though, twice caught off no balls, but frankly speaking, those deliveries also did not deserve wickets. For the second match in succession MS Dhoni could not use Ravi Ashwin for his full quota of four overs, while Ravindra Jadeja went for 48 off his four. Hardik Pandya was also not much better off, being hit for 43 in his four as the West Indies sped away with the game. “I had told before the tournament that we have 15 match-winners and we are not Gayle dependant,” an elated skipper Darren Sammy said after the match. “Simmons, Russell and Charles prove what I have been stating all along. This win is simply stupendous for us, for our country, I just hope we win that last game against England… that will do a lot of good to the people of our country,” the West Indian skipper added. Dhoni blamed the dew for the bowlers’ failures, but at the same time said he was happy with the total India had put up. The inclusion of Ajinkya Rahane (40, 35b, 2×4) in place of Shikhar Dhawan seemed to have done India a world of good as he and Rohit Sharma (43, 31b, 3×4, 3×6) put on 62 for the last seven overs. After Rohit fell to the Samuel Badree (1/26) flipper, Rahane and Kohli (89 n o, 47b, 11×4, 1×6) put on another 66 runs for the second wicket to put India on a strong platform. And then started the Kohli masterclass as he took apart the Windies bowling in the last four overs. When the history of T20 cricket will be written some day, there has to be a special chapter on Kohli. The Indian vice-captain, time and again is confounding all and sundry by playing orthodox cricket shots and Thursday was no exception. The cover drive, the slap through mid-wicket all had class written all over it. Sadly Kohli’s heart will bleed Thursday and along with him a billion other Indian hearts. But then he alone can’t always save India.
