The 2021 T20 World Cup has thrown a surprising winner at the end. Australia. Who would have expected that at the start of the tournament? I certainly did not. The Australians themselves would not have expected. It showed in their reaction after winning the final. The tournament had other surprises too. Let me offer my two cents about the World Cup on 2021 T20 World Cup my view.
India’s exit
India’s exit at the group stages wasn’t really a surprise. The players were all quite tired and jaded. After a gruelling and evenly contested test series in England, they followed it up with another edition of the ever happening IPL. It was only natural that something somewhere must give and it happened at the World Cup. Tough luck but time to move on.
England wasn’t expected to exit
The bigger surprise was the exit of England. They are the team to beat when it comes to limited overs. The benchmark that they have established will be hard to beat albeit when it comes to batting. The power hitters right from the top till Adil Rashid at number 11 will make any opponent shiver at the thought of playing them. For the same reason they lost in the semi-final. The pitch wasn’t really conducive to their brand of batting and they fell more than 30 runs short. New Zealand took full advantage of chasing when the pitch quickens and England had no answer.
Having said that, England always had problems with their bowlers. The fact that the batters had to score those extra 60-70 runs to cover up for the bowlers shortcoming is something Morgan and the ECB must get into. Perhaps they may want to sacrifice some of the hitting towards bowlers who can pick up wickets. Chris Jordan, I have never seen him go for less than 6 an over and the same with Woakes. The services of Archer and Stokes was missed but they were still the favourites and must have gone onto with the title.
Pakistan
Pakistan as expected bowed out in the semi-finals. More than Shaheen Afridi, it was Harris Rauf who was the outstanding bowler for Pakistan. The difference in his pace from 147 to 122 KMPH proved problematic for most the teams. None of them were able to score freely of Rauf and that proved to be the difference between a competitive total and a below par one. India’s effort was a prime example. If only they had managed to score of Rauf, India could have ended up with a score in excess of 165. It could have been match winning. Alas, it wasn’t to be.
Rauf determined Pakistan’s fortune
This is where Australia showed how good they are against fast bowlers. They took care of Rauf and scored at 10 an over of him and that meant that even though Shadab Khan was devastating in the middle, Australia were still in the game. Shaheen Afridi perhaps felt that pressure of trying to contain when Rauf wasn’t able to at the other end. He may have felt that with Rauf expected to bowl the last over and with him being taken for runs already, everything fell on him, Shaheen to ensure a tight over. That pressure revealed itself and he wasn’t able to control it. Matthew Wade will not forget this innings in a very long time. He played an innings of his lifetime.
Have Australia achieved a turnaround?
After the 2015 World Cup, this was Australia’s best performance in any ICC event and their 6th World Cup title. Incredible performance. The Australian team clearly showed what sufficient rest and adequate play can achieve. This is a lesson the BCCI will do well to learn and understand. Australia hardly played any during the year and with not that great an outfit, outperformed every other team and that too on the slow Asian pitches. They did it with test match bowlers rather than any specialist T20 cricketers. Whether this will prove to be a renaissance for Australia is difficult to tell because they just do not have the personnel any longer. In about 12 months they will start as the favourites in the 2023 WC in Australia but will they be able to defend their title? I do not think so.
Mitchell Marsh, the man of the moment, played his best innings after the 181 against England. Now a big debate in Australia will be started whether Marsh must be included in the Ashes squad. Afterall, the test team is not brimming with confidence and they are in much need of energy. Whether this innings will prove to be second coming for Marsh, it is difficult to tell. He has all the strokes in the book though slight weaker against spin, he certainly possess class. Injuries have laid him low all these years. If he forgets bowling and concentrates on batting alone, he may still make a career as a pure batsman.
New Zealand’s tentativeness towards Australia
What about New Zealand? Why do they always find it so hard against Australia? I remember. Just before the Indian series in Australia, New Zealand were walloped 0-3. They just did not have any way to counter the Aussies. The nervousness of NZ clearly showed in the finals. The first 10 overs put paid to any hopes of they might have had of adding one more world title. 57 runs in 10 overs in a T20 game is unacceptable. Martin Guptill batted like he was batting in test cricket. Too slow by T20 standards. It left the middle order to do lot of work and post a competitive total. Despite Williamson’s heroics, New Zealand still fell short by 30 runs. New Zealand lost the game right there. In Dubai, the team that chases usually wins because of the dew and therefore the pitch quickens.
ICC must act
The ICC must seriously think about the reason why most teams prefer to chase in T20. In Dubai, the score stands at 16-1 in favour of teams chasing. Most of the T20 games are won by teams chasing. The ICC will do well to bring this lop-sidedness down.