Written by Nirek Dandanayak

Best individual performance:

Kohli 82* (53) vs Pakistan – The scene was set at the MCG, the largest stadium in the tournament with 90,000 fans in attendance. This historic match up that comes with so much drama every time it is played was bound to deliver again, and it definitely did. The toss went India’s way who then decided to field first and so setting up a chase for themselves in the second innings. Arshdeep Singh made a brilliant start taking out Pakistan’s two-star batsmen – Rizwan and Babar Azam. However, Pakistan recovered in the middle overs to set a very respectable score of 159 after their 20 overs. The game was in India’s hands at this stage as they had to put their heads down and go after the total but after an unfortunate start that saw India being 31-4 after 6.1 overs, a win for India was seeming unlikely. Then, when all hope seemed lost, the master of the chase, Virat Kohli, showed why he is one of the best players of our time. Kohli and Pandya took the game deep but even with 3 overs to go and 48 runs needed, this pair’s heroics looked to be not enough. The 18^th over was hit for 17 runs with some stunning boundaries from Kohli. Then Haris Rauf came into the attack, leaving Nawaz the spinner, for the last over. Rauf has been effective throughout the game with his blistering pace and after four balls, only 3 runs had been scored. But then, Kohli played a shot that looked impossible to play. A length ball, with some bounce was smashed over the bowler’s head for a maximum. This shot has been hailed as one of the best in the history of T20 cricket. Not only did he hit one six but he followed it up with another astonishing shot, flicking it over long leg for another maximum. With 16 needed off of the final over, disaster struck with Pandya getting out on the first ball but on the fourth ball luck came India’s way when Nawaz bowled a no ball and Kohli took advantage by smashing the ball over deep square leg for six. The next ball, being a free hit, bowled Kohli but he managed to run three byes in all the drama. However, drama then swung the other way yet again when Karthik was stumped on the second last ball. Ashwin walked in with 2 runs needed and smartly left the ball to go for a wide. Scores were level and Ashwin held his nerve to finish off the game. Though Ashwin hit the winning runs, this was Kohli’s game and it was one of the best performances in the history of T20 cricket.

Biggest upset:

Netherlands vs. South Africa:

The goal was clear for South Africa. Defeat Netherlands and move on to the semi-final, lose and get knocked out of the tournament in the group stages. Up until this matchup, South Africa had been very impressive, beating India with a clinical performance. However, after losing to Pakistan, they had been put under pressure against Netherlands. At the Adelaide Oval, Netherlands batted first setting a very respectable 158 off of their 20 overs with Colin Ackermann scoring 41 from 26 balls. With the bat now being handed to South Africa, the openers got off to a decent start but after de Kock fell early, they weren’t able to recover properly with none of the top 5 batsmen exceeding a 150-strike rate. A very notable performance from the Netherlands team was from Brandon Glover who took 3 wickets – including Rilee Rossouw and David Miller, in only 2 overs giving away 9 runs. Overall, a huge upset produced by Netherlands to keep South Africa out of the knockout stages of the tournament.

Player of the tournament – Sam Curran:

A player who’s position in the England T20 world cup team may have been doubted by many has silenced any haters throughout England’s campaign in Australia. He has come into his own as England’s death bowler with an amazing economy throughout the tournament. A special performance was his bowling against Pakistan in the final. Curran bowled 4 overs, giving away 12 runs and taking 3 wickets. One of his wickets included Mohammed Rizwan, the star opener who was key for Pakistan’s batting line-up. Curran cleaned him up with Rizwan chopping it on to his own stumps. It was a wide full delivery and Rizwan went for the big booming drive, but he could only send himself back to the dressing rooms. Overall, Curran alongside Stokes’ batting performance helped England complete their impressive campaign with a victory in the final becoming the first ever team to hold the ODI world cup trophy and the T20 world cup trophy at the same time.