ICC T20 World Cup 2012: West Indies Champions — Samuels 78* and Sri Lanka Final
The ICC World Twenty20 2012 was the fourth T20 World Cup, hosted in Sri Lanka from 18 September to 7 October 2012. West Indies defeated Sri Lanka by 36 runs in the final at R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo on 7 October 2012. West Indies scored 137/6; Sri Lanka were bowled out for 101. Marlon Samuels scored 78* from 56 balls — the match-defining innings. Sunil Narine took 2/11 from 4 overs. Chris Gayle scored 75* from 41 balls in a group stage match against England. Rohit Sharma was the tournament's leading run-scorer with 225 runs. West Indies won their first T20 World Cup since 2007 and were the third team to win multiple T20 World Cups when they won again in 2016.
The ICC World Twenty20 2012 was the fourth T20 World Cup, hosted in Sri Lanka from 18 September to 7 October 2012. Twelve teams participated in a Super 8s format. West Indies defeated Sri Lanka by 36 runs in the final at R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo on 7 October 2012 — ending Sri Lanka's hopes of winning the T20 World Cup as hosts. West Indies won their second T20 World Cup title (having also won in 2007).
The Final: Samuels 78* and West Indies' Defensive Total
West Indies scored 137/6 from 20 overs in the final — a total initially considered below-par for a T20 World Cup Final. Marlon Samuels scored 78* from 56 balls, providing the backbone of the innings after early wickets fell cheaply. In Sri Lanka's chase, Sunil Narine (who had emerged as a mystery spinner in the tournament) took 2/11 from 4 overs; West Indies' bowlers restricted Sri Lanka to 101 all out in 18.4 overs. Lasith Malinga scored 18 as last-man batting, attempting to close the gap, but West Indies won by 36 runs. Samuels was named Player of the Match.
Sunil Narine: Mystery Spin at T20 Level
The 2012 T20 World Cup was Sunil Narine's breakthrough tournament on the international stage. Narine's off-spin action disguises the direction and pace of the ball through a highly unusual release — the ball appears to come out of the back of the hand, creating confusion about which way it will turn. In the 2012 tournament he took 9 wickets at 13.66, including tournament-defining spells against Sri Lanka and England. His economy rate (5.75) was the best of any bowler with 6+ wickets. Narine's success in the 2012 tournament accelerated his IPL career with Kolkata Knight Riders, where he became the most valuable spinner in IPL history.
Frequently asked questions
How did West Indies become one of cricket's dominant forces in T20 cricket despite inconsistent results in Tests and ODIs from 2007 onward?
West Indies' dominance in T20 cricket — two World Cup titles (2007, 2012) and a third in 2016 — coexists with their decline in Test cricket (from world's top team in the 1970s–80s to a mid-table Test nation by the 2000s) and inconsistent ODI performances. The explanation lies in structural alignment: T20 cricket rewards the exact skills that West Indian cricket has historically produced at the highest rate — natural hitting power, raw pace bowling, and athletic fielding. The IPL and other T20 leagues that followed the 2007 WC specifically created a market for explosive batting and raw pace; West Indian players were among the first non-Indian players signed for IPL franchises (Chris Gayle, Kieron Pollard, Dwayne Bravo, Narine), which both developed their T20 skills and created financial incentives to prioritise the format. The consequence: by 2016, the West Indies T20 squad contained players who had played thousands of T20 overs across global leagues — IPL, CPL, Big Bash, PSL — and had greater T20-specific experience than any national squad except perhaps Australia. Test and ODI cricket, which require different (and often competing) skill sets — defensive patience for Tests, running between wickets for ODIs — were deprioritised by a generation of West Indian players who found better financial opportunities and higher competitiveness levels in T20. This pattern — T20 specialisation emerging from T20 financial incentives — became the template for other 'T20 specialists' (Afghanistan, Nepal, UAE) who built T20 programs specifically because their domestic first-class structures could not compete with India, Australia, and England at Test level.