5 instances when Dwayne Bravo won the match in the last over
Instances where the all-rounder grabbed victories from the jaws of defeats.
India vs West Indies, 1st T20I at Lauderhill, 27th August 2016
India toured the United States to play two T20I matches as part of the bilateral series between the two teams as the T20I series coincided the Caribbean Premier League. The first T20 international had turned out to an absolute run-fest with India almost pulling off the highest successful chase in a T20 international.
Johnson Charles and Evin Lewis slaughtered the Indian bowling attack with ease. At the halfway mark itself, West Indies had forecasted for themselves a total of an excess of 250. At no point, the Windies had an intention to slow down. Evin Lewis, only in his second T20 international had scored a century, and took Stuart Binny for 32 runs in an over, smashing five sixes.
A half-century from Charles, cameos from Brathwaite and Pollard, led them to a behemoth total of 245 for the loss of six wickets. India had a clear plan which was to go all guns blazing, coming out on the field and they did exactly that. Rahane and Kohli departed after a few good shots but it was Sharma and Rahul whose partnership kept them very much on track.
It was in this match that KL Rahul announced his arrival to international cricket by scoring a century. He first shared a partnership of 89 with Rohit Sharma and another of 107 with MS Dhoni. KL Rahul got to his maiden T20I hundred by smashing one maximum over the infield. Eventually, it was down to 8 required off the last over.
The first delivery saw Dhoni get a thick edge only for Samuels to drop an absolute sitter. He took a single with the centurion Rahul back on strike. The next two balls could cultivate just the two runs – one with a leg bye and mistimed shot. The second last ball was smacked past the bowler and the batsmen managed to get two runs.
With 2 required off the last delivery, all Dhoni could manage was getting a top edge which went to Marlon Samuels who held the catch which was dropped earlier. West Indies won by one run. Bravo did the unthinkable by defending just eight runs off the last over two in-form batsmen. For India, a win would have been perfect after coming so close. The match yielded an aggregate of 489 runs across two innings.
Written by Aayushmaan Vishwanathan
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