West Indies will now meet India in the final of the International Masters League T20. They defeated Sri Lanka in the second semifinal by six runs as Tino Best displayed a strong performance with the ball. Windies had made 179 batting first.
West Indies edged out Sri Lanka in a thrilling second semifinal of the International Masters League T20 to set up a finale meet with India.
Defending a target of 180, the Windies registered a hard-fought six-run win over the Lankan Lions as they survived a score from Asela Gunaratne. Gunaratne made 66 from 42 balls and kept the Lankan Masters team in the hunt for the chase.
With 15 needed off the final over, Sri Lanka believed they could get it with Gunaratne out in the middle. Lendl Simmons bowled the final over after leaking 18 in the 18th over. Gunaratne hit him for a first-ball six and then a brace as he brought the equation down to seven from four balls. However, as he did not had a reliable partner at the other end, Gunaratne denied singles and ran out of steam at the end as his team fell short by six runs.
For the West Indies, Tino Best was the star with the ball. He picked 4/27 in his four overs and bowled a crucial 19th over or only seven runs. He also bagged the crucial wicket of Dilruwan Perera in the 19th over.
The match kept swinging one way to the other. The Windies were needing runs close to 13 an over during the middle stage. Gunaratne and Isuru Udana pressed the accelerator and brought the required rate down. However, Udana was dismissed by Dwayne Smith in the 17th over. Dilruwan Perera hit a couple of blows too and the Lankan side was well placed after Perera and Gunaratne amassed 18 off the 18th over of Simmons. They needed 22 from the last two overs, however, Best came with a mingy seven-run over and also got Perera. Gunaratne was left to do too much, and he fell short, as did Sri Lanka.
West Indies will now meet India in the final on March 16 as it will be a clash between Sachin Tendulkar and Briana Lara.