It was a Kolkata evening, when the air seemed to be thick, almost heavy with anticipation. And yet, as the game turned the other way, even the loudest shouts within Eden Gardens had something of doubt in them.
West Indies were drifting. It was 107 to 6, with 156 to chase in the final of the 2016 ICC World Twenty20, and the body language was telling the story: heads were slightly down, the dialogue was rushed around the dugout, and there was a tense feeling coming. There was a moment of silence when Daren Sammy fell, there was a moment of near confusion concerning who would walk next.
Carlos Brathwaite then called himself.
It was not dramatic at the time, up in the press box, as the batter was another jogging out. However, later on, he would confess it was a decision made within a split-second: either keep things in hand or to go the whole hog. Brathwaite decided in favor of power with Marlon Samuels positioned at the opposite end. No overthinking. Just instinct.
He started quietly. A couple of strides between wickets, a couple of shots, which did not quite beat the field. England with Ben Stokes and David Willey at the helm continued to squeeze. Dot balls were more weighty. Single was like slowing down. The formula narrowed–19 had to get off the last over.
And even there it did not seem impossible. but it did not seem probable either.
The field dispersed. Stokes at the top of his mark. Samuels crossed over, uttered a few words–swing for the hills. No long chat. No complicated plan.
First ball- short of a yorker, floating leg side. Brathwaite swings. Clean. High. Six.
The audience responded, albeit with reservations. A single blow does not champion finals.
Second ball—full, tighter. He straightens his front leg, makes space, and launches it once more. Another six. Now the sound is different. You might have sworn you could feel it trembling down the stands–people standing, phones in their hands, strangers clutched together.
Third ball—similar length. This time it drifts long-off, a little out of time, yet there is enough of it. Six more. And now even the shoulders of England start to sink. Some of the fielders gaze at one another. as though they said, what has happened?
By the fourth ball it was inevitable.
Stokes comes back again. Brathwaite crosses the line- high, straight, gone. Four balls. Four sixes.
Ian Bishop could no longer restrain himself through the commentary box. His voice tore through the mayhem: Carlos Brathwaite. Carlos Brathwaite. remember the name!
And there was the moment—not the match, not even the place in history.
Why is this performance still outstanding among the others?
Years after, now fans have voted this knock by Brathwaite as the best performance by men in T20 world cup. And, seated there that night, it is easy to see why.
The four sixes were not all. It was the circumstance. The indecisiveness prior to his entrance. The pressure of a final. The manner in which the game appeared was no longer. until it was.
And other people forget too.
Brathwaite was not only the finisher, but had earlier in the game created the game itself, taking the likes of Joe Root and Jos Buttler, leaving the game at 3 for 23. A well-rounded effect, concealed in the back of such a bang.
In the fan vote, too, he narrowly defeated the iconic 70 of Yuvraj Singh in the 2007 semi-final, a clue to the fact that this night has been imprinted so deeply in memory.
The echo lingered long after the lights were dimmed and the crowd was emptied.
Nineteen needed. Four swings. Four sixes.
And a voice that did not leave anybody indifferent.