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KOLKATA: They dampened the local spirits by knocking out India but a resurrected West Indies cricket team will bring its own brand of joie-de-vivre to the ICC World Twenty20 summit clash when they take on a transformed England in what promises to be a battle of power-hitting here tomorrow.
The exuberant Caribbeans, who almost did not come to the tournament owing to a pay dispute with their Cricket Board, have been nothing short of phenomenal so far.
A shock loss to Afghanistan in the group stage is the only setback they faced in the course of what is turning out to be a fairytale run.
“We think it is us against the world,” captain Darren Sammy has declared twice so far, in a veiled reference to the bitter standoff with the Cricket Board during which the players were accused of putting money over country.
On the other side is England, a team which, like the Windies, got no mention in the pre-tournament favourites list, barring the one given by Indian icon Sachin Tendulkar.
There will be little to choose between both the sides who will be bidding to become the first nation to clinch the WT20 silverware for a second time, with England having won the tournament in 2010, followed by the West Indies two years later.
Eden Gardens will host its first World Cup final since 1987 when the Mike Gatting-led Englishmen had lost to the Aussies by an agonising seven runs in the ODI version of the tournament.
Now, 29 years later, the Englishmen will play another World Cup final at the same venue and will look to exorcise the ghosts of that infamous Gatting reverse sweep.
With a 4-9 win loss record against the explosive West Indies, England may start as dark horses but Eoin Morgan’s ice-cool leadership has made them a potent force.
The West Indies journey, however, has been quite exemplary given that 12 of the 15 members of the squad agreed just on time and were terribly short on match practice coming into the tournament.
A hurriedly arranged week-long camp in Dubai was all that they could manage in the name of build-up coming into the big event.(PTI)
