West Indies thrashed England by four wickets in the men’s final on Sunday night and their female team outplayed the strong Australian outfit by eight wickets in the afternoon at the same venue.
It is the first time in cricket history that the male and female cricket teams of a country captured World T20 titles in the same year, day and ground.
However, it was not the maiden example of playing the World T20 Championship title clash by male and female teams of a country. Previously Australia performed this feat in 2010, when their male and female cricket teams reached the final match in the West Indies. On that occasion, Australia’s men’s side surrendered to England in the final whereas the women’s team emerged winners against New Zealand.
West Indies men also set a unique record of winning the double crown in T20 cricket. They became the first side to win the World T20 title twice, first time in 2012. They were also the first team to win two ODI World Cups as well.
In the men’s final encounter, West Indies’ lower-order batsman Carlos Brathwaite sealed the second title for his team with some incredible hitting. He hammered four towering sixes off Ben Stokes’ first four balls of the final over to chase the target of 156 for the loss of six wickets with two balls left.
Chasing a rather difficult target, West Indies began their innings on a disappointing note losing three wickets for just eleven runs.
However, Marlon Samuels and Dwayne Bravo came to the rescue and took the score to 86 before Bravo departed after hitting 25 with a six and a four.
Samuels and Bravo added 65 runs for the fourth wicket and then two more wickets fell as the West Indies reached 107 for six.
Now they needed 49 runs from 27 balls with Samuels still at the crease as Brathwaite joined him and they were in no mood to give up the chase.
They added 54 runs from 25 balls, for an unbeaten fifth wicket stand, to finish it after Brathwaite hit four consecutive sixes off Ben Stokes in the final over.
When Ben Stokes was tossed the ball for the final over of the match, the West Indies needed 19 runs for victory. Marlon Samuels, 85 not out, was still there but at the non-striker’s end. Perhaps, England felt this was a good thing but strongly-built Brathwaite shattered all English plans through some ruthless hitting.
In the previous two matches Stokes had been so effective when bowling the death overs. The mighty right-hander stood tall in the crease and swung. Poor Stokes sought the yorker but he could never find it.
David Willey claimed three wickets for 20 and Joe Root got two for nine for England.
Earlier, England being sent into bat, managed to reach 155 for nine after a disastrous start losing three early wickets for just 23 runs.
However, Joe Root and Jos Buttler rescued the team from collapse with a 61-run fourth wicket partnership and later Willey slogged a quick fire 21 with two sixes and a four. Root made 54 off 36 balls with seven fours while Buttler scored 36 off 22 balls with three sixes and a four.
West Indian pacers Brathwaite and Bravo captured three wickets each for 23 and 37, respectively, while leg-spinner Samuel Badree took two for 16.
The Caribbean women’s team also became the World T20 champions on the same day. The West Indies women, who made their maiden appearance in the final match, shattered the Aussie women’s dream of winning their fourth successive World T20 title.
Chasing a rather tough target of 149, West Indies completed their eight-wicket victory, with three balls remaining, against the three-time Women’s World T20 champions.
Openers Hayley Matthews and skipper Stafanie Taylor with a remarkable 120-run stand paved the way of for an easy win for the West Indies.
The latter batters, Britney Cooper and Deandra Dottin needed just 29 runs from 26 balls to win and they achieved it in 23 balls.
Matthews, who was declared the Player of the Match, made 66 off 45 balls with three sixes and six fours while Taylor, who was named Player of the Series, scored 59 runs off 57 balls with six boundaries.
Earlier in the semifinal clash, late replacement Lendl Simmons, with unprecedented knock of 82*, led West Indies to a nail-biting seven-wicket win in the last over against India on March 31 at Mumbai.
Highly fluky Simmons was caught twice at the Wankhede Stadium, on 18 and 50, but both times the bowlers had overstepped for no-balls and he made the hosts pay dearly for their mistakes as the West Indies cruised to nerve-wrecking triumph.
The West Indies lost veteran duo Chris Gayle and Marlon Samuels early in their reply, but opener Johnson Charles kept them in the hunt with a 36-ball 52 and a third-wicket stand of 97 with Simmons.
The right-handed Simmons plays for Mumbai in the Indian Premier League and was only called into the squad two days ago as a replacement for the injured Andre Fletcher. He cracked seven fours and five sixes in 51 balls and added an unbeaten 80 with Andre Russell for the fourth wicket to take the West Indies home with two balls to spare.
Indian stylish batsman Virat Kohli continued his rich vein of form by smashing an undefeated 89 to guide India to 192 for two after they were put in to bat first.
Kohli also began nervously, twice going close to being run out, but made the opposition pay for failing to take their chances. He struck 11 fours and a six in his 47-ball knock.
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