The most memorable "2014 World T20" moments

New Delhi: The international twenty20 championship is now over and we have got the new champions SRI LANKA. The tournament had certainly left us with some unforgettable moments that cricket fans might never forget. We have witnessed all the moments that made us stand on our feet and some that saddened us. Not only big guns of cricket, but the minnows have also left some beautiful memories for us to be remembered till the game cricket is alive. India Tv takes back you to some of those unforgettable moments: Hong Kong vs Bangladesh: The first major upset of the tournament came on 20th March, when a test playing nation Bangladesh was defeated by a new entrant in the T20 internationals Hong Kong by 2 wickets. Bangladesh was surprisingly all out for 108 but it was chased down by Hong Kong with just 2 balls remaining in the game. 40 year old Munir Dar played a superb innings of 36 runs which led his team to first international win. Netherlands vs Ireland: One could have never imagined that what will happen in the last qualifier game between the two minnows on 21st March. These teams have registered themselves in the T20 cricket golden moments. The target of mammoth 190 runs was chased down by the Dutch in just 14 overs by the heroism of Tom Cooper and Stephan Myburgh. Five T20 international records including most sixes in an innings (19), most sixes in a T20 match (30), second fastest half century by Myburgh (17 balls), most runs in a powerplay (91) and the fastest team 100 were broken by the Dutch. This game certainly took the minds of people away from Indo-Pak match that was to be played just after that. Netherlands not only won the match but they actually qualified for the super-10 stage. This would be one of the greatest T20 international game ever played. India vs Pakistan: The first super-10 game between the arch rivals India and Pakistan always have special memories for the cricket fans infact it is the most liked match in cricket. The same thing happened on 21st March, when the two teams faced each other again after India was defeated by Pakistan earlier in Asia cup. Pakistan was looking to start with a winning note and repeat the Asia cup feat and India was hoping to continue the history of never getting defeated through Pakistan in any ICC championship. Though the match was low scoring, but India won that by 7 wickets and took their Asia Cup revenge. The super-10 stage could not have a better start than the Indo-Pak match.Netherlands vs Sri Lanka: After a superb match against Ireland, cricket fans were hoping for another major upset in the tournament with Netherlands defeating Sri Lanka this time. On 24th March, the crowd in the stadium was expecting another firework from the Dutch batsmen especially from Tom Cooper and Stephan Myburgh. But what really happened seriously made the crowd unhappy. Netherlands were all out for 39 in less than 11 overs which is also the lowest score in T20 internationals. Lankans chased down the score in 5 overs and won the match. That is T20 cricket is all about! Netherlands vs South Africa: The minnow gave another memory for all the fans to cherish whenever T20 world cup comes in mind. This time the Dutch were against the South Africans on 27th March. One could have not even imagined how this match would go. Netherlands after winning the toss put South Africa to bat. They had shaky start as the Dutch bowlers picked regular wickets restricting them to 145/9. Ahsan Malik had an amazing spell of 5 wickets in 4 overs giving away just 19 runs. The Dutch chase was as good as it was with Ireland with brilliant half century from Stephan Myburgh but it was just not enough as regular wickets kept falling afterwards and Netherlands lost the match by just 6 runs. They were bowled out for 139 in this nail-biting thriller.Alex Hales' century snatched thrilling victory: The second thrilling game of the same day in which England's Alex Hales secured an unbeaten and the first 2014 World T20 century against Sri Lanka which gave the team their first victory by 6 wickets in the tournament. He scored 116 off 64 balls including 11 fours and 6 sixes and finished the game with a huge six. He made 80 runs of just boundaries and sixes. Despite poor fielding and shaky start while chasing the target of 190, Hales just stole the show that evening. He put up the partnership of 152 runs with Eoin Morgan who scored 57 off 38 balls for the third wicket after their 2 wickets were fallen on the score of 0 in the first over. His name appears 4 times in the top 8 scores for England T20I. This was also the highest T20 international chase ever by England. This game will also be remembered for a brilliant innings of 89 runs played by Lankan legend Mahela Jayawardene. West Indies celebration: After a thrilling win against Australia on 28th March, the way the Caribbean players celebrated their victory is a memorable celebration especially for the players and the Caribbean fans. Gayle angry performance on ‘Gangnam Style' and they way Darren Sammy threw his bat and ran over the ground to celebrate their win was just great. They had beaten the Aussies like as in 2012 World T20 semifinal, now they were inched towards the semi finals once again. Fans were hoping to see more such celebration from the West Indies players especially Chris Gayle.India vs Australia: This was the game on 30th March, when India defeated Australia by a huge margin of 73 runs in their last super-10 game before the semis. M.S.Dhoni lost the toss for the first time in the tournament and India were put to bat first by Aussie captain George Bailey. Despite a shaky start, India managed to score 159 in 20 overs with Yuvraj's blistering knock of 60 runs in 45 balls including 5 fours and 4 sixes. Later Indian spinners showed their magic again and bowled out Australia for mere 86 runs. Seven Australian wickets were taken collectively by Ashwin, Mishra and Jadeja – The Indian spin trio. Ashwin bowled his career best taking 4 wickets in 3.2 overs giving away just 11 runs. This win made India group champions as they won 4-0 in the group-2 super-10 matches. One another positive that came out in this match was Yuvraj got his form back which was most important for team India.Netherlands vs England: On 31st March these minnows yet again defeated England in their second encounter in World T20 after 2009. The Dutch were restricted to 133/5 in their 20 overs. But what just happened while England's chase, no one would have ever imagined that. England were bowled out for just 88 runs and Netherlands won by 45 runs. This win was a consolation win for the Dutch. Mudassar Bukhari bagged 3 english wickets in his 3.4 overs giving away just 12 runs and was the hero in the team's win. After this game, Netherlands would certainly pray that everytime they should be included in the group with England so that their one win is confirmed!Sri Lanka vs New Zealand: This was the do-or-die game for both the teams as whosoever wins would reach in the semis. On the same day i.e. 31st March, we got to witness another exciting and unbelievable game. Something happened that was not expected at all! While batting first, Sri Lanka put on a total of just 119 runs which was a very much easy target for the Kiwis. But what happened next! New Zealand were bowled out for just 60 runs in 15.3 overs. Thanks to the “Herath” angez (mind-blowing) bowling spell by Rangana Herath who bowled his career best and the T20 international's third best. He picked up 5 kiwi wickets in his 3.3 overs giving away just 3 runs including 2 maiden overs. This was probably one of the best bowling we ever witnessed in international cricket. Sri Lanka qualified for the semi finals of the World T20 for 4th time in a row. West Indies vs Pakistan: This was another do-or-die game but for different team on 1st April. This was the much awaited game after India qualified for the semis. Fans were eager to know who'll be the second semi-finalist from Group-2 who will play against Sri Lanka on 3rd April. Some late blistering knocks by Darren Sammy and Dwayne Bravo helped Windies to set a target of 167. Magical spin from Samuel Badree and Sunil Narine and some pace from Santokie and Andre Russell bowled out Pakistan for 82 contributing to the biggest T20 international win for West Indies. This was fourth time in the tournament when a team was bowled out for less than a score of 100.Sri Lanka vs West Indies (semifinal 1): On 3rd April, it was the first semifinal of the World T20, everyone was expecting a nail-biting thriller, but it does not give the excitement in the result that everybody wanted. Sri Lanka posted the target of 161 for West Indies to chase and due to slow start Windies were 80/4 in 13.5 overs when sudden storm and heavy rain with hailstorm started. This made the play unable to restart and thus Sri Lanka won by 27 runs by Duckworth Lewis method and qualified for the finals. This was the game which was not expected by any cricket fan especially Caribbean cricket fan.India vs South Africa (semifinal 2): The much awaited game after India qualified for the semifinals gave the result what every Indian fan wanted. On 4th April, while batting first, South Africa posted a challenging total of 173 runs for India after some brilliant batting performance by Faf du Plessis and J.P. Duminy. India started their chase aggressively and all the batsmen contributed in Indian win over Proteas by 6 wickets. The evening show was stolen by Virat Kohli who played an incredible innings of 72 runs that helped India qualify for the final. Another special moment that came in this game was when India needed one run to win the match and Dhoni had the chance to hit the winning runs. But he ducked the ball and gave Kohli the chance to hit the winning runs. This show, how kind-hearted is the Indian captain M.S. Dhoni is towards his teammates.The Big Final - India vs Sri Lanka: The game which was much awaited since the tournament started. The most familiar opponents were against each other on 6th April since 2011 World Cup final. The target that India put up for the Lankans was just 131 which they chased down with 13 balls remaining. Sri Lanka won their first ICC championship after 1996 and also won their first final in the five finals they played in past 7 seven years. This World T20 was also the last for Lankan legends Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara. What could be more special for Sanga that he finished with a match winning knock? Yes Indian fans would be disappointed with the loss, but true cricket can never be sad because these two veterans finished their T20 career with their first championship. At last some statistics of the tournament:Highest run scorer: Virat Kohli 319 runs (India) also the man of the tournamentHighest Wicket Taker: Imran Tahir 12 wickets (South Africa)Highest team total: South Africa 196/5 vs EnglandLowest team total: Netherlands 39/10 vs Sri LankaHighest individual score: Alex Hales (116*)No. of stumpings: 21Best bowling figures: Rangana Herath 3/5 (Sri Lanka)