Gayle, Pollard power Windies to the final

Dilanka MANNAKKARA reporting from R.premadasa stadium

The free flowing West Indies side delivered a giant killing performance in the Semi Finals as they thrashed the mighty Aussies by 74 runs to race their way towards the grand final against Sri Lanka on Sunday. Chasing a huge target of 206,the Aussies lost probably their only chance when in form man Mike Hussey and match winner Shane Watson were dismissed cheaply.

Captain George Bailey was the sole saviour of the Australians with a power packed 63 of 29 runs.

It was typical Caribbean bating on offer as absolute brutal hitting by Chris Gayle and Keiron Pollard just erupted the ecstatic fans at the R.Premadasa stadium in the second semi final between West Indies and Australia. Gayle did his signature “gangnam style’ moves after he hit every six which was applauded by a cheerful crowd at the grounds.

Thus West Indies qualified for the finals of the World T 20 2012 which should certainly make their fans feel much better as it was after 8 long years that their side have qualified for a global tournament final,last being the 2004 Champions trophy where they ended up as shock winners.

The Gayle force was on show for a major part throughout the innings and Pollard power at the end made sure that the Windies end up with a huge score of 205 for the loss of 4 wickets .The West Indies thus crushed the Australians who looked out of sorts by a whopping 74 runs.

The modest crowd present certainly got their money’s worth as it was a grand display of murderous hitting right in to the stands.The sixes weren’t just 65 meter hits where it is referred to the third umpire for confirmation but 100m humungous ones straight in to the jubilant crowd.Gayle remained unbeaten on a blistering 75 of 46 balls while Pollard ended up with a cameo of 38 of 15 balls.

West Indies gathered greater momentum with each over, and ended the innings on a murderous note as Xavier Doherty’s final over went for 25. It was a strange decision to bowl Dohetry during the final over with Gayle in thundering form and Pollard just waiting to get underneath anything to heave it for a six.

West Indies captain Darren Sammy who won the toss had no hesitation in batting first on a true wicket.

The Australian’s stand out pace bowler of the tournament Mitchell Starc again bowled intelligently and Pat Cummins delivered one of his better spells of the tournament.

But Shane Watson delivered his first wicket-less stint of the event, and the spinners Brad Hogg and Xavier Doherty were unable to strike at crucial times.

By the time 10 overs had elapsed, Gayle had faced only 18 balls, while Samuels and Bravo, chosen ahead of his brother Darren, took a greater share. Then it was down to the Gayle show in the 15 over delivered by David Hussey as Gayle smashed the bowler out of the attack thus getting 19 runs of the over.Darren Bravo had to depart in the next over after a fine 37 runs ending a match winning partnership of 83 of 51 with Gayle.

The final over was a disaster for the Aussies as Pollard hammered three huge hits while Gayle hit one as the momentum complete shifted towards the Windies.