ICC World Twenty20, Match 21: West Indies vs Sri Lanka - As it happened...

Riding on the unbeaten knock of 84 by opener Andre Fletcher West Indies beat Sri Lanka by seven wickets in the ICC World Twenty20 at M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore.

WI beat SL comprehensively in the 21st match of the ICC World T20 2016.

Over 18.2 | Score 127/3 (Fletcher 84, Russell 20)

Perera to bowl. First ball was dispatched towards mid-wicket by Russell for a boundary. Then came a wide. Another six over covers as WI beat SL by seven wickets with 10 balls to spare. And with the win Windies have added two more points to their  kitty. 

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Over 18 | Score 116/3 (Fletcher 84, Russell 10)

Chameera to continue. Kulasekara dropped Russell at the third man. Sloppy fielding by the Sri Lankans. Six from the over. WI need 7 runs from 12 balls. 

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Over 17 | Score 110/3 (Fletcher 79, Russell 9)

Kulasekara with his 2nd over. Russell smacked the bowler straight down the ground for a boudary off the 3rd ball. Then came another one from the willow of Fletcher. WI need 13 runs from 19 balls. 

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Over 16 | Score 99/3 (Fletcher 73, Russell 4)

Chameera set to bowl the over. Opener Fletcher is playing a special knock tonight. He deserves to carry his bat in the match. Chameera conceded mere four in the over. WI need 25 runs off25 balls. 

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Over 15 | Score 75/3 (Fletcher 71, Russell 4)

Siriwardana with his 4th over. Opener Fletcher launched the bowler for two sixes off his first two balls. In the last, Russell too collected a boundary. WI need 29 runs from 30 balls.

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Over 14 | Score 75/3 (Fletcher 56, Russell 0)

Vandersay to bowl his last over. Another tight over by the leggie as he gave mere three in it. West Indies need 48 runs off 36 balls.

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Over 13 | Score 72/3 (Fletcher 53, Russell 0)

Fletcher completed his fifty off the 2nd ball with the help of a double. Siriwardana picked up his 2nd wicket in the form of Ramdin. Superb over by the spinner. Andre Russell is the new man in. 

D Ramdin b Siriwardana 5 (13b)

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Over 12 | Score 67/2 (Fletcher 48, Ramdin 5)

Chameera set to bowl his opening over. Four singles came off the last four balls. SL need a couple of wickets here or may be more get back into the match. Fletcher mere two runs shy of his fifty.     

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Over 11 | Score 63/2 (Fletcher 46, Ramdin 3)

Opener Fletcher is looking unstoppable at the moment. He hit Siriwardana's third ball towards cover region to get his 5th boundary. WI are cruising towards victory. 

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Over 10 | Score 56/2 (Fletcher 41, Ramdin 1)

Left-arm spinner Herath bowled a tight over as he conceded mere two runs. SL should attack, that's the only option they have. Ramdin opened his account with a single. 

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Over 9 | Score 54/2 (Fletcher 40, Ramdin 0)

Siriwardana gave SL another breakthrough off his 3rd ball as he got the better of experienced Samuels. Ramdin walked into bat. Two from the over along with a wicket.  

MN Samuels st Chandimal b Siriwardana 3 (12b)

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Over 8 | Score 52/1 (Fletcher 39, Samuels 2)

Fletcher launched the bowler for a six over long on as WI crossed the 50-run mark. Seven from the over. Pressure is on SL as they are defend a below par total.   

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Over 7 | Score 45/1 (Fletcher 33, Samuels 1)

Rangana Herath to continue. Fletcher collected his 4th boundary in the fifth ball as six runs came from the over. SL should keep taking wickets at regular intervals. 

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Over 6 | Score 39/1 (Fletcher 28, Samuels 0)

Vandersay gave SL their first breakthrough in the form of Charles. It's a maiden wicket by the leg-spinner. Marlon Samuels is the new man in.    

J Charles b Vandersay 10 (13b)

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Over 4 | Score 30/0 (Fletcher 22, Charles 7)

First bowling change as Vandersay is set bowl his first over. Kapugedera spilled a simple catch of Charles off the 1st ball. A solitary run came from the over. Good start by the spinner.   

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Over 3 | Score 29/0 (Fletcher 22, Charles 6)

Fletcher and Charles are opening the inning as Chris Gayle is injured. WI Off to a flying start as they collected 30 runs in the first three overs. Fletcher is looking dangerous at the moment.  

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Sri Lankan Innings

Over 20 | Score 122/9 (Vandersay 0, Chameera 0)

Bravo to bowl the final over of the innings. Three runs from the first three balls. Then came two back-to-back wickets in the form of Herath (run-out) and Perera. Single off the last. SL put up a paltry total of 122 in front of WI. But Chris Gayle is not going to open the innings for WI tonight. 

NLTC Perera c Russell b Bravo 40 (29b)

HMRKB Herath run out 3 (3b)

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Over 19 | Score 118/7 (Herath 2, Perera 38)

Russell to bowl the penultimate over of the innings. 2nd ball was whacked towards deep mid-wicket for a boundary by Perera. Off the 5th ball, the seamer got his 1st wicket in the form of Kulasekara.  

KMDN Kulasekara b Russell 7 (8b)

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Over 18 | Score 110/6 (Kulasekara 6, Perera 33)

Brathwaite to bowl his last over. Off the 2nd ball, Perera smashed the bowler towards point region to get a boundary. And with that SL crossed the 100-run mark. Off the next, came a six over mid-wicket. 16 came from the over. 

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Over 17 | Score 94/6 (Kulasekara 2, Perera 22)

In the first ball, Bravo got the dangerous wicket of skipper Mathews. His slow full toss deceived the batsman. He has a lot of variations up his sleeves. Four from the over. 

AD Mathews c Ramdin b Bravo 20 (32b)

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Over 16 | Score 90/5 (Mathews 20, Perera 21)

Brathwaite back into the attack. From the 2nd ball came a boundary from Perera's willow. Both the batsmen are well set in the middle. Now they have to apply, 'see ball hit ball' policy to put up a challenging total in front of WI.  

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Over 15 | Score 81/5 (Mathews 18, Perera 15)

Perera has decided to up the ante as he is looking for big shots now. He collected a boundary off Benn's third ball by playing his straight down the ground. Eight from the over.   

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A very convincing bowling performance from the Windies so far on a very good batting track. Confidence on the field looks high! #keepitup

— Brian Lara (@BrianLara) March 20, 2016

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Over 14 | Score 73/5 (Mathews 16, Perera 9)

After Benn bowled a tight over, Perera hit Russell straight down the ground for a boundary in the next. But still six runs came from the over.   

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Over 12 | Score 65/5 (Mathews 14, Perera 3)

Bravo to continue. The seamer experimented a lot in the over and eventually conceded eight runs. Mathews has to lead his side by examples.   

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Over 11 | Score 57/5 (Mathews 9, Perera 2)

Benn with his 2nd over. The left-arm tall spinner gave no room to the batsmen to free their arms. Three from the over.  

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Over 10 | Score 54/5 (Mathews 7, Perera 2)

Dwayne Bravo is being introduced for the very first time. The seamer bowled a tight over first up a he conceded mere five runs. SL crossed the 50-run mark as well. 

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Over 9 | Score 49/5 (Mathews 3, Perera 1)

Badree is on song. He gave West Indies two breakthroughs in the over in the form of Kapugedera and Siriwardana. SL are now reduced to 49/5. Batting side is in deep deep trouble.  

TAM Siriwardana c Gayle b Badree 0 (3b) 

CK Kapugedera st Ramdin b Badree 6 (10b)

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Over 7 | Score 43/3 (Mathews 1, Kapugedera 5)

Badree picked up his first wicket as he got the better of Thirimanne off his 1st ball. SL have lost three wickets in a heap. And they are in a bit of trouble now. Need a decent partnership here. Skipper Angelo Mathews has come to the middle. 

HDRL Thirimanne c Fletcher b Badree 5 (7b) 

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Over 6 | Score 41/2 (Thirimanne 5, Kapugedera 4)

Russell with his 2nd over. Thirimanne​ and Kapugedera hit a boundary each in the over to get nine in it.  

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Over 5 | Score 32/2 (Thirimanne 0)

Badree with his 2nd over. Chandimal run out! It means both the Sri Lankan openers are back in the hut, after getting a start. 

LD Chandimal run out 16 (18b)

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Over 4 | Score 30/1 (Chandimal 14, Thirimanne 0)

Brathwaite​ gave West Indies their first breakthrough in his opening over as he trapped Dilshan in front of the wicket. Thirimanne walked into the middle. Chandimal pulled the seamer for a six over square leg off the fifth ball. 

TM Dilshan lbw b Brathwaite 12 (10b)

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Over 3 | Score 20/0 (Chandimal 6, Dilshan 12)

SL off to a decent start. Dilshan is looking in good nick in the middle as he reached to 12 off 9 balls with the help of one boundary and a six.  

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TOSS: West Indies skipper Darren Sammy has won the toss and have invited Sri Lanka to bowl first.

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Teams (from):

Sri Lanka: Angelo Mathews (captain), Jeffrey Vandersay, Dushmantha Chameera, Dinesh Chandimal, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Rangana Herath, Shehan Jayasuriya, Chamara Kapugedera, Nuwan Kulasekara, Suranga Lakmal, Thisara Perera, Sachithra Senanayake, Dasun Shanaka, Milinda Siriwardana, Lahiru Thirimanne.

West Indies: Darren Sammy (captain), Samuel Badree, Sulieman Benn, Carlos Braithwaite, Dwayne Bravo, Johnson Charles, Andre Fletcher, Chris Gayle, Jason Holder, Ashley Nurse, Denesh Ramdin, Andre Russell, Marlon Samuels, Jerome Taylor, Evin Lewis.

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PREVIEW:

The rematch of the 2012 final is expected to be an all out war between the respective top order batsmen. Defending champions Sri Lanka, already without their greatest match-winner Lasith Malinga, will rely heavily on the firepower of Tillakaratne Dilshan.

For West Indies, it's Chris Gayle.

If both the batting stalwarts fire today, either side can hope for a win. But on form, it's the Caribbean side which has got the advantage.

That being said, Lankans are good fighters and they know well enough how to play to their strengths. And one of their strengths will be the spinners.

Read full preview here.

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Welcome to our live coverage of the match 21 of 2016 ICC World Twenty20 between Sri Lanka and the West Indies. The Super 10, Group 1 match is being played at M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore.