Young English to take on killer Carribeans at Kolkata

Chennai

But when West Indies led by Darren Sammy and England with Eoin Morgan at the helm walk out at the Eden Gardens on Sunday, the experts have done their bit. A host wasn’t in the final, both teams were beaten in the league stage however it would be a team winning the title for the second time. England won the title in 2010 while the Windies were champions in 2012. When these two teams strode out at the Wankhede on March 16 in their first match of the WT20, a few will have predicted that it would be a showdown between same sides with the title on the line.

England brought a young squad to India with minimal experience of conditions or of playing in a World Cup. An opening defeat to West Indies appeared to confirm that. They had big hitters, who could be successful on a batting wicket, but gullible on spinning tracks. What carried them was their bowling that lacked depth. England’s Jason Roy, Jos Buttler and Joe Root have been among the runs while Ben Stokes, David Willey and Chris Jordan have been consistent with the ball.

The Windies have a batting unit that works like a perfectly oiled machine. While Chris Gayle was murderous in the first match against the same opposition they will meet on Sunday. In the semis against India, it was the combination of Lendl Simmons and Andre Russell demolished the Indians on a batter’s paradise. And, Darren Sammy appeared to be right – the Windies had 15 match winners.

So a Gayle vs Willey, Stokes vs Samuels, Root vs Bravo or Roy vs Badree promises to be a ‘Super Sunday’ in cricketing history at the iconic Eden Gardens.