COLOMBO, Oct 8: Skipper Darren Sammy believes his West Indies team will become a powerful force in international cricket after their remarkable 36-run victory over Sri Lanka in the World Twenty20 final.

West Indies bowled out the highly-favoured Sri Lanka for a meagre 101 in front of stunned 35,000 crowd after Marlon Samuels’ blazing 78 off 56 balls had lifted Sammy’s team to 137-6.

“We’re not trying just to compete any more, we believe we can win against good opposition,” Sammy said. “We showed signs of that in the last year or so, but we were not winning. Hopefully, this can be the start of something good for the West Indies team and the people.”

Samuels echoed his captain’s views and said the hard work paid off after Sri Lanka had twice beaten them — once in a warm-up match and then in the Super Eights round.

“It is hard to explain what this victory means to me and my team,” Samuels said. “The West Indies are finally going well again, we have a great future.”

Sammy’s team peaked at the right time in the tournaments, capitalising when South Africa, Pakistan, Australia and England faltered late in the tournament. The West Indies didn’t get an ideal start, either, after scraping through the preliminary group stage only due to a better net run-rate than Ireland.

But once the West Indians arrived in Pallekele from rainy Colombo, they shifted gears.

Sammy’s team beat defending champions England and won a crucial last match against New Zealand in one-over eliminator in the Super Eights which was enough to secure a spot in the semi-finals.

By that time all the big hitters — Chris Gayle, Samuels, Kieron Pollard and Dwayne Bravo — had accumulated enough runs to be a threat to any team in the tournament.

Gayle’s memorable, unbeaten 75 off 41 balls against Australia in the semi-finals saw the West Indies racking up tournament’s highest score 205-4 before bowling out George Bailey’s team for 131.

Sri Lanka had all the necessary tools to counter the West Indies in the finale. Mahela Jayawardene would have set his eyes firmly on the trophy once West Indies stuttered at 32-2 by the 10th over and it was difficult to hit the ball.    But Samuels’ ruthless batting against Lasith Malinga, who was hammered for five sixes, was equally supplemented by some superb ground fielding.

Although Jayawardene was twice dropped, both difficult chances, the two run-outs of Jeevan Mendis and Thisara Perera and two wickets by Sammy never allowed Sri Lanka to gain momentum.

“Once we play the way we can, we’ll always be a force to reckon with,” Sammy said. “We didn’t brag about it but we believed we could go out there and take it one game at a time.

“I said ‘hurdle by hurdle,’ and today was the final one. The coach said we’re climbing to the top of a mountain, and that’s where the prize is. We’ve got to go and take it. Today, we did that.”

Sammy dedicated the victory to the people of the Caribbean, who had been waiting for a long time since the glory days of the Clive Lloyd and Viv Richards eras to taste victory in a major tournament.

“This is the best moment for me in any cricket,” he said. “West Indies fans all over the world have been craving success. I know they’re partying from Jamaica down to Guyana. And we know how to party. I think they’ll need a lot of bartenders.”

Sammy showered praise on Samuels. “He has been brilliant in this tournament and lived up to our expectations.”

Gayle flopped with the bat in the final and could score only 3 off 16 balls, but perhaps saved all his energies for his ‘Gangnam’ style celebration dance.

He even displayed his rodeo-style dance on the stage before he received his winners’ medal and didn’t forget to repeat it once a group photograph was taken with the trophy.

“We don’t practise, it comes naturally,” Sammy joked when asked about the dance. “We just need to watch the video and watch Chris do it, and we copy it. Simple as that!”—AP