West Indies snatch win from jaws of defeat to reach fi

MUMBAI: West Indies displayed an astonishing batting power play to crush favourites India and qualified for the final of the World Twenty20 here at Wankhede Stadium on Thursday night.Chasing an improbable target of 193, West Indies made a disastrous start losing Chris Gayle and Marlon Samuels for 19 runs but then opener Johnson Charles and Lendl Simmons made a quick recovery and added 97 runs for the third wicket.Charles made 52 off 36 balls with seven fours and two sixes before he was dismissed by Virat Kohli.Then Simmons was joined by Andre Russell and both blasted a number of sixes and boundaries to steer their team to an unbelievable victory with two balls to spare.Simmons and Russell remained not out on 83 and 43, respectively.Simmons smashed five sixes and seven fours in 51 balls while Russell hit four sixes and three fours facing 20 balls.’Earlier, India piled up a huge total of 192 runs for the loss of only two wickets with the help of three consecutive sixty-plus partnerships after being sent into bat..First, openers Rohit Sharma (43) and Ajinkya Rahane (40)provided a sound start of 62, then Rahane and Kohli added 66 for the second wicket and later Kohli and his captain Mahindra Singh Dhoni made 64 for the unbeaten third wicket stand.Kohli blasted an unbeaten 89 from 47 balls, hitting eleven fours and a six while Dhoni also remained not out on 15.This is India’s second highest total in a World T20 match after 218-4 against England at Durban in 2007.West Indies will now play the final against England on Sunday at Eden Gardens, Kolkata.This is interesting to note that the West Indies Women also qualified for the Women’s World T20 final and for the first time, two teams – men’s and women’s – of a ‘country’ have reached the final of the respective T20 tournaments.