Previously in this edition’s World T20, the two sides had already met during a group stage encounter at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. The Caribbean side had defeated England by 6 wickets as they chased down the English total of 182 for 6 with 11 balls to spare.
However, on a much greener track at the Eden Gardens, the match won’t be as one-sided as Wankhede and is sure to go down the wires.
Incidentally, both England and West Indies have won the T20 World Cup before and, therefore, are expected to handle pressure in front of 65,000 people on Sunday.
Although the host nation crashed out of the 2016 World T20 on Thursday after having lost the semi-final encounter against West Indies by 7 wickets, they had previously won the tournament back in 2007.
A look into the past winners of the ICC T20 World Cup
The first edition of the World T20 kicked off at the rainbow nation of South Africa in 2007. The BCCI, after the dismal performance of the Indian team at the ICC Cricket World Cup in West Indies earlier that year, sent a relatively inexperienced Indian side at the world event that year.
The young brigade led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni defeated arch rival, Pakistan by 5 runs in the final at Johannesburg to lift the coveted trophy.
However, a couple of years down the line, the Cricket Gods showed some mercy on the Pakistan cricket team. Having lost the previous T20 World Cup final to India, the Pakistanis under their captain, Younis Khan were determined to bring the Cup home. They convincingly outplayed Sri Lanka in the final match of the tournament to seal the deal by 8 wickets.
England, the country which boasts to be the inventor of the sport, won its first ever major cricketing tournament in 2010. Paul Collingwood guided the Three Lions to the ultimate glory at the 2010 T20 World Cup as his side defeated a formidable Australian side in the final match of the tournament by 7 wickets.
West Indies were the next country to have its name carved on the glamorous ICC T20 World Cup trophy. The Caribbean side defeated the Lankan Lions by 36 runs in the final at Colombo.
Despite a shaky start, the West Indies team led by Darren Sammy not only managed to post a respectable total of 137 runs on the scoreboard but also defended their fort successfully by restricting the Sri Lankans to a mere 101.
The island nation of Sri Lanka was third time lucky as they successfully managed to clinch the title in 2014 at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka. After having played in a couple of T20 World Cup finals earlier, the Sri Lankan side under Lasith Malinga finally ended their ‘choker streak’.
They had defeated India in the final match of the tournament by 6 wickets to get their hands on the desired trophy.
Here is a table showing the previous winners and the runners-up of the ICC T20 World Cup:
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