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PHOTOS: Clinical West Indies thrash Australia by 74 runs
Chris Gayle smashed a blistering unbeaten 75 as the West Indies stormed into their maiden ICC World T20 final with a crushing 74-run victory over a listless Australia at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, on Friday.
Opting to bat, Gayle literally butchered the Australian bowlers in a 41-ball 75-run innings as the West Indies notched up 205 for four, which incidentally is the highest total in this edition of the tournament.
The Caribbean team then returned to skittle out Australia for a paltry 131, with 3.2 overs to spare, and set up a summit clash with Sri Lanka on Sunday.
Australia skipper George Bailey did put up a fight with a 29-ball 63, which was laced with six fours and four sixes, but he was let down by the other batsmen, who returned to the pavilion without much to show.
Badree removes Warner and Watson
Leg-break bowler Samuel Badree (2/27) removed openers David Warner (1) and Shane Watson (7) in his first three overs, while Marlon Samuels got rid of Mike Hussey (18) as Australia tottered at 42 for three after the six overs of Powerplay ended.
Ravi Rampaul then dismissed Cameron White (5) and David Hussey (0) within the space of three deliveries to make it 42 for five.
On a strip where Gayle and Co made batting look easy, the Australians were all at sea.
Both Watson and Warner tried to play shots that can't be played when the ball keeps low, while Mike Hussey was consumed by the slowness of the track.
David Hussey was rusty, and the others simply didn't have it in them to put up a fight.
Gayle storm hits Colombo
Earlier, Gayle hit five fours and half a dozen of towering sixes as the West Indies made a mockery of the Aussie attack.
Marlon Samuels, with 26, Dwayne Bravo, with a 31-ball-37, and, last but not the least, Kieron Pollard (38) also matched Gayle stroke for stroke to help the West Indies cross the 200-mark.
Left-arm spinner Xavier Doherty, who had looked unplayable on the same track during the Super Eights, was hammered for 48 runs in his three overs, including 25 from the final one, which had four sixes.
Half of the 14 sixes in the West Indies' innings were hit off Doherty's bowling.
Teams have often complained about the Premadasa track and difficulty in stroke-making, but Gayle showed that if you have brute power, then the nature of pitches become irrelevant.
Samuels provides good support to Gayle
Marlon Samuels also settled down well and started tonking the bowlers.
During his brief stay, he smashed 26 off 20 balls, including a six each off left-arm spin duo of Doherty and Brad Hogg.
He was deceived by a slower delivery from Pat Cummins, which sent him back to the dug-out.
Gayle-Samuels put on 41 runs in only 4.3 overs, during which Samuels was the dominant partner.
Gayle, on the other hand, hit his first six off Shane Watson over long-off and the second one came off Doherty's bowling, as it went sailing into the deep mid-wicket stand.
The third six off Doherty was another straight one, but the stand-out one certainly was the fourth six hit off David Hussey's bowling. The ball just soared into the upper tier in the deep mid-wicket region.
Bravo, Gayle provide the momentum
Bravo, on the other hand, settled down nicely; he first chanced his arms against Watson, hitting over long-on boundary and then pulled a short one from Hogg over mid-wicket region for another six.
The 100 came up in the 12.5 overs and the 50 partnership off 35 balls. The big-bodied Jamaican completed his third half century of the tournament of 29 deliveries when he hit a boundary off David Hussey.
Bravo lifted Cummins for his third six but perished immediately when he failed to get elevation of a fuller delivery from the bowler and was caught at the edge of the 30-yard circle.
Gayle-Bravo conjured 83 runs in less than nine overs, but, more importantly, nullified the two left-arm spinners, attacking them with great gutso. When Bravo was out, the West Indies had reached 140 and a commendable total was just there in sight.
Pollard powers West Indies past 200-run mark
The 17th over from Cummins started the proceedings for the West Indies.
Pollard, who had been quiet throughout the tournament, blasted a quickfire 38.
Australia decided to use Doherty for the final over, and it turned out to be a disaster, as Gayle and Pollard hit four sixes between them -- three from Pollard to help the West Indies end with a mammoth total of 205.