An Aussie Victory
What a tournament it has been . There were one sided games , close matches , exciting rivalries , and an unexpected winner . Once the group stages were over , no one gave Australia the benefit of the doubt . And who would have blamed them ? Their opponents were the invincible Pakistan , a team that was undefeated till now . On the next step were New Zealand , a team that only lost to the invincibles . Given their dismal performance in the past year T20 series , it was almost awe inspiring to see them rise back to their familiar place at the top .
Despite having won 5 ODI World Cups , the men Down-Under had yet to win in the T20 format , and their emotions showed their exhilaration upon lifting the cup . Having won the toss , Australia wanted to chase the final target , but it seemed to have backfired as Kane Williamson hammered an innings befitting a captain leading from the front , scoring 85 off only 48 balls . Mitchell Starc was the choice bowler to aim for the Kiwis , who hit the experienced pacer for 60 runs in his quota for 4 overs . But Hazelwood put a hold on their run making havoc for a long time , taking 3 wickets and only giving up 16 runs , almost a man of the match worthy performance .
Yet a target of 173 looked massive , especially for a final . Even in an ordinary match ,this score is hard to chase down facing some of the finest bowlers in the world , but the pressure for it being a world cup finals compounded it . The pressure to chase in a high stakes game often applies a psycholgical 20 odd runs , which means the target must have felt like 192 or so on a pitch with dew setting in . A daunting task .
But the Aussie batsmen proved everyone wrong , starting from the man of the tournament , David Warner himself . Coming from the sandpaper gate scandal , few believed that Warner still had the prowess in him . He was banned from a leadership position , and his IPL team Sunrisers Hyderabad dropped him . David Warner decided to prove his superlative skills of batting throughout the tournament , even scoring a half century while opening in the finals . But the real hero was Mitchell Marsh , who with Glenn Maxwell , hammered the winning runs in a fashionable style . He scored 77 off 50 balls , and was in perfect touch .
If this tournament has taught the cricket world anything , it is that while not everything is guaranteed or set in stone , one can never count out Australia until they are truly out of the tournament . Their run was a testament to their tenacity and strength which all teams should aim to achieve .
I hope everyone had a fun time watching the tournament as I did writing about it . Have a great week ahead !