ICC T20 World Cup 2016: Brathwaite's Four Sixes — West Indies' Miracle Final
The ICC World Twenty20 2016 was the seventh T20 World Cup, hosted in India from 8 March to 3 April 2016. West Indies defeated England by 4 wickets in the final at Eden Gardens, Kolkata on 3 April 2016. England set 156/6 and appeared to have won when Marlon Samuels and Carlos Brathwaite opened the final over needing 19 from 6 balls. Ben Stokes bowled the over. Brathwaite hit four consecutive sixes — each one bigger than the last — to win the match off the fourth ball with West Indies on 161/6. It was the highest run chase from the last over in a T20 World Cup Final. West Indies became the first team to win two T20 World Cups. Virat Kohli scored 273 runs in the tournament as India's top scorer but lost their semi-final to the West Indies. Chris Gayle scored 100* vs England.
The ICC World Twenty20 2016 was the seventh T20 World Cup, hosted in India across eight venues from 8 March to 3 April 2016. Sixteen nations participated in a Super 10s format. West Indies defeated England by 4 wickets in the final at Eden Gardens, Kolkata on 3 April 2016 — becoming the first team to win two T20 World Cups (having won the inaugural 2007 tournament). The match produced the most dramatic final over in T20 World Cup Final history.
The Final Over: Brathwaite's Four Sixes
England set 155/9 from 20 overs. West Indies, chasing 156, needed 19 runs from the final over — bowled by Ben Stokes — with Carlos Brathwaite on strike. The scorecard read 57* for Marlon Samuels, 3* for Brathwaite. Ball 1: Brathwaite hit a full ball from Stokes over deep midwicket for six (161/6 needed; 13 off 5). Ball 2: Brathwaite hit another full delivery over wide long on for six (12 off 4). Ball 3: Brathwaite hit a slightly shorter ball over deep square for six (6 off 3). Ball 4: Brathwaite hit a full ball over long off for six — the fourth consecutive six — to win the match with 2 balls remaining. West Indies 161/6 won by 4 wickets. Brathwaite scored 34* from 10 balls.
Virat Kohli's Tournament and India's Semi-Final Exit
India, as hosts and tournament favourites, had Virat Kohli as the tournament's highest run-scorer with 273 runs at 136.5 — including an unbeaten 89* vs Pakistan in a chase in Kolkata. India topped their group and qualified for the semi-finals. In the semi-final at Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium against the West Indies on 31 March 2016, India scored 192/2 (Rohit Sharma 60, Kohli 89*). West Indies needed 193 — and Lendl Simmons scored 82* from 51 balls to win by 7 wickets with an over to spare. India's semi-final loss in front of their home crowd was the tournament's biggest upset. Kohli's 89* in the semi-final remained a personal score on a losing side.
Chris Gayle's Century
In the group stage at Eden Gardens on 16 March 2016, Chris Gayle scored 100* from 48 balls against England — the joint-fastest T20 International century at the time (equalling Brendon McCullum's 49-ball 116 from the 2012 World T20). Gayle reached his century off 47 balls with a six, then retired out on 100 from the next ball. West Indies scored 182/2 and England were bowled out for 129. The innings was Gayle's only T20 World Cup century and one of four T20I centuries he scored across his career.
Frequently asked questions
Why is Carlos Brathwaite's four-sixes final over considered the greatest moment in T20 World Cup history, and how did Ben Stokes respond to bowling the over?
Brathwaite's four-sixes final over is considered the greatest moment in T20 World Cup history on the basis of context and improbability: England needed West Indies to score no more than 18 from the final over to win (which is, in statistical terms, the likely outcome on most occasions — scoring 19+ in a T20 final over at that point in the over is roughly a 15% probability). The over came from Ben Stokes — England's best young all-rounder, a bowler capable of 90mph — and the first ball was a full delivery aimed at the stumps (a standard final-over delivery). Brathwaite had scored only 3 runs off 6 balls before the final over. The sequence of four consecutive sixes off a quality international bowler in the highest-pressure over in the tournament was statistically extraordinary. Stokes's immediate response — recorded on camera and widely shared — was to lower himself to the pitch surface on all fours in disbelief as each successive six was hit. He later described the over as one of the hardest moments of his career, not because of the technical failure (the deliveries were well directed) but because of the inability to change the outcome after the first two sixes. The over transformed Brathwaite — a lower-order bowler with modest batting credentials before 2016 — into a Caribbean cricket icon overnight; his shout of 'Carlos Brathwaite! Remember the name!' by commentator Ian Bishop became one of cricket's most quoted calls. Stokes has since referred to the over as the motivating failure behind his Headingley 2019 innings (135*, chasing 362) — a moment where he channelled the memory of being on the wrong side of a match-changing individual performance.