West Indies saw their hopes of defending the World Twenty20 title dashed by rain in the first semi-final on Thursday following a 27-run defeat by Sri Lanka, who has reached the finals of the tournament, says a report in the DNA.
Set a challenging 161-run target, the West Indies were well short on the Duckworth-Lewis method when a thunderstorm stopped play after 13.5 overs at the Sher-e-Bangla stadium in Dhaka.
According to Sport24, West Indies, who would have needed 108 to win on the D/L method, was 80-4 when play was halted, adding that Sri Lanka, who lost the 2012 final in Colombo to the West Indies, will face the winners of the second semi-final between 2007 champions India and South Africa, also in Dhaka on Friday.
Leg-spinner Seekkuge Prasanna had Lendl Simmons LBW (four) to leave the West Indies struggling at 34-3 before Bravo and Marlon Samuels (18 not out) added 43 for the fourth wicket, the report added.
Meanwhile according to a news report in Firstpost, West Indies captain Darren Sammy was graceful in defeat and said that may be God wants Sri Lankan legends Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara to get a chance to savour the taste of winning a World Championship trophy in their swansong T20 international event.
“Today, there were two gentlemen (Sangakkara and Jayawardene) who gave a lot not only to Sri Lankan cricket but to cricket as a whole. May be the Almighty wants them to win a World Cup and leave on a high. Probably, God wants them to win a World Cup and that’s why He put his hand in this so that they get another match,” Sammy said.
