Carlos Brathwaite, Remember The Name!

From Psy’s Gangnam Style to Bravo’s Champion, The Windies proved to the world once again that an indomitable spirit can triumph over everything else.

Carlos Brathwaite. Images Source: 100MB

The 2012 T20 World Cup was widely expected to usher in a new era of West Indies' dominance. However, these expectations came to nothing because as soon as the World Cup was finished, the Windies returned to their lousy ways, getting knocked in the 2013 Champions Trophy, the 2014 T20 World Cup and the 2015 ODI World Cup.

In the four years between the 2012 WT20 and 2016, a lot had transpired for them, but none of it was positive. The tussle with the West Indies Cricket Board has gotten much, much worse by now. The board had branded them as rebels, they had a first-time manager, and in the lead-up to the WT20, they didn't even have jerseys to play in. Mark Nicholas called them players with no brains.

Yet somehow, the Windies weathered every storm they had to sail through. Chris Gayle began the tournament with a marvellous hundred and the juggernaut just never stopped after that, taking out even tournament favourites and hosts, India (Afterall, there’s only so much Virat Kohli could do on his own). Lo and behold, they were in the finals against England, who were looking for redemption after the debacle of the 2015 World Cup themselves.

After winning the toss and choosing to bowl first, the Windies put England in a world of trouble as Jason Roy was sent packing in just the second over. Hales and Morgan followed soon after, but Root steadied the innings with Jos Buttler to guide them to a respectable total on a tricky surface.

In the second over of the Windies’ innings, Morgan played the ultimate mind game. He brought on part-timer Joe Root to bowl to Gayle and Johnson Charles. Their egos got the better of them and both of them were sent packing.

It was up to the previous final’s hero, Marlon Samuels to lead the charge again and he did exactly that. But with the destination in sight, Windies started to stutter once again. Dwayne Bravo top-edged a ball straight into Root’s hands, and within nine balls, Russell and Sammy were sent packing too.

In came Carlos Brathwaite, an inexperienced youngster filled to the brim with potential. Along with Samuels, he kept chipping away at the total but cometh the last over; it didn’t seem enough. After conceding a boundary on the first ball, Jordan gave away just four runs in the rest of the penultimate over.

The equation was now 19 runs in six balls. Any other player would’ve snuck a single and given the strike to Samuels, who had been in sublime touch. But not Carlos. Up against Ben Stokes, one of the best all-rounders in the world, he sent the ball sailing over fine-leg to bring the required runs down to 13.

Stokes steamed in to deliver a ball that had little wrong with it, but the cricketing gods weren’t on his side. Brathwait cleared his front leg to send the ball for another six over long-on. The next ball didn’t have much wrong either, but it went into the stands nonetheless. With just one needed from three, a single would have sufficed. But Brathwaite had the touch of Midas on that night, and as the ball sailed into the stands for one last time, he stretched his arms and looked up to the skies in triumph; this moment immortalized by Ian Bishop’s uncharacteristically emotive lines, “Carlos Brathwaite, Carlos Brathwaite Remember The Name”.