Rewind - T20 World Cup'22

                    

                 The 2022 T20 world cup final is to be played on Sunday the 13th of November and this edition is said to be the most exciting of all the tournaments held before. Living true to its nature of this modern day game this entire tournament has provided fans with the much hyped of hopes, anticipation, joy, sorrow and lots of entertainment. The tournament saw the might of the associate nations and how far the game has evolved with respect to its wide outreach. 

                   Each day of the tournament bough with it endless calculations, rain interventions, and a big qualifier setup to bring the best teams on display in the world of cricket. This tournament saw a seesaw of fortunes and the entire duration of the tournament seemed like a thriller movie - and all this is exclusive of the ever so interesting matches that were played. Teams showed character on field and off field and made the competition one of the best ever if not The best. 

                  So before we know the champions of this edition, here is a look at 10 moments from 2022 T20 World cup which were absolute gems:

#10 Champions Fail To Qualify

                          2012 and 2016 world champions, the side that bought power hitting and long sixes into the game, the side that produced gems of T20 cricket in Chris Gayle, Andre Russel, Kieron Pollard, and Sunil Narine to name a few who have conquered the global franchise scale on their own. It was the most shocking scenes to first realize that West Indies had to play qualifiers to come up in group 12 stage in the main draw of 2022 world cup. 

                    The nightmare did not end there for the fans when West Indies won over Zimbabwe – but as the World cup was destined to be a shocker and thrilling of a tournament West Indies lost next two games to associate nations of Scotland and Ireland to bow out of the competition in the qualifier stage. The shocker game saw West Indies bow down to a paltry 146/5 in their 20 overs while Ireland chased down the same in 17.3 overs with 9 wickets in hand.

#9 Runners-up Outclass Champions

                         Last years T20 final saw Australia thump New Zealand in the finals to win their maiden T20 world cup. This years T20 world cup’s opening game gave a resurgence of the same when New Zealand was on to face Australia in the first match of Group 12 stage. The match at Sydney was widely regarded as many to be a fierce competition with many favoring the Aussies to rout New Zealand. What happened on the day was a complete shocker.

                      Australia was totally outclassed by New Zealand who scored a mammoth 200/3 in their 20 overs coming of a brilliant 92 not out by Devon Conway and a blazing 16 ball 42 by Finn Allen. Australia was bundled out for 111 in 17 overs to hand them a massive 89 run defeat in the opener. The champions were stuck by some quality bowling unit of New Zealand with no bowler having an economy rate exceeding 7.75.

#8 Return Of The King Of Chases

                           After last year’s drubbing by Pakistan to end the streak of India winning against them in every World cup encounter, the world was waiting eagerly for the highly anticipated match between India vs Pakistan on a Sunday. Packed crowds, return of Shaheen Shah Afridi and India’s newfound approach after the 2021 T20 world cup reality check made up for a nail-biting competition. Win or lose the entire cricket fanbase were ready to enjoy a highly skilled and competitive game of cricket.

                            The momentum swung between India and Pakistan at intervals and Pakistan almost had the game at their hands when they had reduced the Indian side to 4/31 in the powerplay chasing a target of 160. Virat Kohli showed why he is hailed as one of the greatest of the game. Kohli steered the game along with Hardik Pandya and scored an unbeaten 82 of 53 balls which included the shot of the tournament as per many when he back punched Haris Rauf for a six straight on the ground.

#7 Ireland Repeat Their Feat

                          The cricketing world and especially Irish and English fans vividly remember the 2011 ODI Cricket World Cup in India. Ireland created shockwaves across the globe when they defeated mighty England by chasing down a huge total of 329 after they were railing at 5-111 in the 25^th over. The past seemed far away as England faced Ireland in the group 12 stage.  The England bowlers did a thrilling job by bowling out Ireland for 157 in 19.2 overs.

                          The reminiscence of the past implored when the informed Jos Butler was out 2^nd ball of the innings and the next batsmen followed route with England reeling at 4/68 after 11 overs. The batting from England did show promise by Moeen Ali in the 15^th over when he collected 12 runs of the first three overs, however the rain played havoc and England were a bit late in launching the full-scale onslaught of boundaries. England were 5 runs behind the Duckworth Lewis (D/L) score and lost the match.

#6 Zimbabwe's Low Scoring Mastery

                          After suffering a close defeat against India, Pakistan had a clear target to move forward in the world cup. Win all the remaining matches to qualify and the notable opposition in the group was South Africa who were playing dominant cricket. Pakistan skittled out Zimbabwe with their clinical bowling attack for a meagre 130 for 8 in their 20 overs. The target of 130 at 6.8 runs per over seemed like easy trade for the experienced batting line up having two world class openers with them.

                             Starting off the chase Pakistan lost wickets in a tandem before some middle order stability by Mohammad Nawaz bought them in the winning range requiring 11 runs off the penultimate over. Pakistan was unable to cross the line and fell one run short as Zimbabwe held their nerves to take two wickets in last two deliveries of the game leaving a stunned Pakistani side and the cricket fans in disbelief as to what they just witnessed.

#5 The Shadab Show

                           Pakistan were morals down after two consecutive losses at the start of their world cup campaign against India and Zimbabwe. The media had written the team off and South Africa were on the surge after defeating India and coming into play with an exploding pace attack and some in depth batting line up. Pakistan showed the world what class they bought to the championship at this very game.  Pakistan batting first were 5/95 at the end of 13 overs. The next batter in the lineup was the vice captain Shadab Khan.

                          Shadab Khan started from the word go and took the South African bowling heads on and tore them apart with some clinical batting display. Shadab scored 52 runs of 22 deliveries whacking 4 sixes and 3 boundaries to propel Pakistan’s score to 9/185 in their 20 overs. Just when South Africa stabilized the chase Shadab Khan took two important wickets in the 8^th over to rout South Africa out of the game.

#4 The Sky Masterclass

                    India was looking as the formidable side to enter the semi finals after winning most of their matches in the group stage. The last match against Zimbabwe in the group stage was poised on a Sunday. Zimbabwe were looking for a repeat of their Pakistan encounter earlier in the series. Batting first India lost wickets at regular intervals and the score read 4/101 in the 14^th over. With half centurion KL Rahul, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma back in the pavilion, Surya Kumar Yadav was at the crease trying to take the score uphill with his 360 degrees style of play.

                  Surya Kumar Yadav blasted 61 runs of 25 deliveries with 4 sixes and 6 boundaries hit across the stadium using his technique which had a plausible comment from Mr 360 himself – AB De Villiers. The innings from SKY was a treat to watch and the entire cricketing fraternity termed it as one. Wasim Akram in an interview jokingly asked “Is he from another planet?”. New age cricket at its best.

#3 Netherlands Moment

                                

                           The fate of Group 2, especially Pakistan entering semis were held by a faint hope of Zimbabwe beating India and an even fainter hope of Netherlands beating the mighty South African side.  As wrong as It may sound no one gave Netherlands a chance in their predictions before the game. South Africa won the toss and put Netherlands into bat. Netherland scored 4/158 in their allotted overs. The chase was hailed as ordinary for a team like South Africa.

                        To everyone’s surprise Netherland never lost their clutch on South African batsmen and their disciplined fielding along with consistent bowling efforts saw them restrict South Africa which had names like Quinton De Kock, David Miller, Aiden Markram to a total of 8/145 thus winning the match by 13 runs. This win for Netherlands paved way for Pakistan into the semis with a famous hashtag being viral which was “Kudrat ka nizam” or force of nature by Pakistani fans as this win was totally unexpected.

#2 Pakistan Resurgence

                    Pakistan entered the semi final by some luck and lot of hard work and were facing New Zealand who had topped their group with strong finishes against Australia and others. Pakistan had to gear their game up if they were to have a chance of playing the finals against a lethal and organized New Zealand bowling attack and a resurgent batting of the Kiwis. Pakistan had faced New Zealand 4 times previously in different ICC tournaments semi finals and had won all of them.

                      New Zealand elected to bat as has been the norm of winning teams in this world cup given the conditions. The consistently performing Pakistani bowling attack proved why they are the best in the world by restricting New Zealand to 4/152 in their 20 overs. When Pakistan came into the chase it was a different Pakistani side – clinical, accurate, disciplined – they made lightwork of the chase against New Zealand and reached the target with 5 balls to spare and 7 wickets in hand. Picture perfect streak with a brilliant all round performance from the finalists.

#1 England Blasts The Semis

                      India played England in their semi final match. India’s bowling had been on point  - the batting held prowess of the likes of Kohli, Surya Kumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya. England on the other hand were not finding their destructive gameplay through the tournament often showing glimpses of it. Put in to bat India struggled in the first 10 overs and their defensive approach saw them score 75 runs in 11 overs. A late onslaught from Hardik Pandya saw India reach a fighting total of 6/168 in 20 overs

                Indian bowlers were to give them timely break-ins to the English side who had a decent batter like Adil Rashid at number 11. What happened next was a complete shocker for the entire cricketing world. England openers Jos Butler and Alex Hales tore the bowling apart with their clinical batting display and never for a moment let India into the game. They both chased the target down in 16 overs without losing a wicket. A thumping 10 wicket win ensures an exciting Pakistan vs England final.

And that was the list readers. Thank you for all your continued support. Do let me know if you would like a particular topic to be covered. 

(Image source: T20worldcup.com)

Cheers !

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