A humbling end to a campaign of expectations

Twenty days ago in Dubai, Dwayne Bravo celebrated his 16th T20 title victory, and promised to rib Kieron Pollard about it. Pollard, in Mumbai Indians colours, had found parity with Bravo less than a year before that night at the same venue with a 15th title win. But the scales had tipped in Bravo's favour again.

Such has been the story of two of West Indies' T20 giants, who arrived at the World Cup having played more than 500 games in the format each - with a combined tally in excess of 300 fixtures more than what the entire Sri Lankan XI on Thursday night (November 4) had. And then there's the third musketeer in Chris Gayle, with 452 T20s to his name.

It had been five years since Daren Sammy's West Indies danced away into the April night in Kolkata with their second T20 World Cup title in tow, but Pollard's squad with a few old, familiar faces came with the reputation and expectation for a third triumph.

The format expectedly moved forward at a typically break-neck pace in this time, and the West Indies stars aged - as per cricketing standards at least - but the two-time champions banked on a not-so-outlandish theory of trying to tame the most unpredictable format with experience and their default setting of unmatched flamboyance. But unfortunately for them, they could channel neither in the four fixtures. The two-paced, sticky surfaces of UAE sucked out all the flair, leaving their experience to make all the difference. But it just didn't.