SL v WI World T20 review: Fletcher and Badree rout Lankans

Darren Sammy won the toss on a slow Bengaluru pitch and put Sri Lanka into bat. Sri Lanka had brought Vandersay in the playing XI, while West Indies went in with Andre Fletcher in their playing XI.

Dilshan got stuck into Andre Russell who opened the bowling, hitting him for a four and a six. Sammy immediately saw the slowness in the pitch and brought in Samuel Badree and Sulieman Benn into the attack and immediately, they started to put the leash on the scoring. The pressure told when Dilshan was out LBW to Carlos Braithwaite and when Chandimal committed hara-kiri and got run out.

After that it was just Sri Lankan batsmen trying their best to hit out or get out and the biggest achiever in this was Samuel Badree who picked up 3 wickets for 12 runs in his 4 overs. Sammy continued rotating his bowlers in order to keep them fresh and keep the batsmen guessing. He was helped by some sharp fielding which kept the batsmen from rotating the strike and it was thanks to Captain Mathews’ 20 and Perera’s 40 runs that Sri Lanka got to 122 runs.

During the Sri Lanka innings, West Indian opener Chris Gayle suffered a hamstring injury while fielding and chasing the ball. So it was decided that unless it was absolutely necessary, Chris Gayle won’t come to bat.

West Indies opened with Andre Fletcher and Johnson Charles, while Mathews opened the bowling for Sri Lanka. The crowd were upset on not seeing Chris Gayle, who plays for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL, coming out to open and started a ‘We want Gayle’ chant.

Fletcher started the innings by really getting stuck into the bowlers and though Sri Lanka fought back via Vandersey and Siriwardana who picked up 3 quick and cheap wickets. Fletcher kept hitting the bowlers on occasions to boundaries and fours and kept taking the singles and twos to keep the run rate in check.

During the match, Chris Gayle was padded up and wanted to come out and play, when umpires had to stop him because he had not spent enough time to come in and play. The crowd grew restless and when Kulasekara dropped a catch of Russell and when Fletcher was given not out for a faulty catch, the booed the decision.

But in the end, West Indies won the match by 7 wickets in hand and Fletcher not out on 82 and Russell unbeaten on 20, with Russell hitting Perera for a six to win the match. West Indies have now won both of their matches and will play South Africa next in Nagpur.

Brief Scores:

Sri Lanka: 122/9 in 20 overs ( T Perera 40; S Badree 3/12)

West Indies: 127/3 in 18.2 overs (A Fletcher 82*; M Siriwandana 2/33)

Player of the match: Andre Fletcher (West Indies)