T20 World Cup | Best bowling performances

The T20 World Cup 2021 will be concluded on Sunday (November 14, 2021) in Dubai. Aaron Finch’s Australia and Kane Williamson’s New Zealand are set to lock horns with each other in the title clash. 

New Zealand have been on a roll in the ICC tournaments since 2015 and have ensured that they earned the right to be one of the most consistent sides in the world so far. They were the runners up in the 2015 and 2019 ODI World Cups, and won the inaugural edition of the World Test Championship after comprehensively beating India. And here they are in another final of an ICC event. 

On the other hand, it took Australia 11 years to make it to another final of a T20 World Cup. Interestingly, neither of the two sides have ever won the world championship in the shortest version of the game and still remain unproven in the most tightly packed, error prone format.

This edition of the World Cup certainly has had a lot to offer to the fans. Pakistan defeated India in a World Cup fixture for the first time ever. The hat trick drought that had lasted for around 14 years after Brett Lee had claimed his in 2007 was finally over. Ireland’s Curtis Campher, Sri Lanka’s Wanindu Hasaranga and South Africa’s Kagiso Rabada picked up hat tricks before the final. 

Apart from this, defending champions West Indies bowed out of the tournament prematurely while India who were firm favourites before the start of the competition failed to make a place for themselves in the semis. 

Well, all said and done, we are a few hours from the grand finale of the tournament, and here is a look at the top bowling performances. 

Adam Zampa vs Bangladesh

Australia’s Adam Zampa picked up the first fifer of the T20 World Cup 2021 when he ripped through the Bangladesh middle and lower order. Batting first, the Bangla Tigers were already on the back foot after losing early wickets and then it was Zampa who got into the act and produced a brilliant spell of spin bowling. The leggie’s scalps included the wickets of Afif Hossain, Shamim Hossain, Mahedi Hasan, Mustafizur and Shoriful Islam as Bangladesh were bowled out for 73 in 15 overs. 

While Zampa picked up five wickets during the course, he was exceptionally economical and gave only 19 runs in his allotted 4 overs. Later, it took Australia under seven overs to finish off the game by 8 wickets. 

Wanindu Hasaranga vs South Africa

Sri Lanka’s Wanindu Hasaranga etched his name in record books after picking up a World Cup hat trick against South Africa in Sharjah. The spinner first removed Aiden Markram for 19 off 20 at the end of the 15th over and then returned back in the 18th to dismantle the Proteas batting unit. 

Hasaranga scalped the wicket of a well-set Temba Bavuma for run-a-ball 46 after he was caught by Pathum Nissanka and followed it with the wicket of Dwaine Pretorious reducing South Africa to 112/6 while chasing 143. 

But his efforts went in vain as David Miller and Kagiso Rabada had some different ideas. The two batters provided the resistance and chipped in with some quick runs to see the side home by 4 wickets on the penultimate delivery of the match. Miller remained unbeaten at 23 off 13, Rabada was not out at a 7-ball 13. 

Shaheen Afridi vs India

Pakistan bowler Shaheen Afridi broke hearts of many Indian fans when he rattled the top order during the clash in Dubai. Shaheen first scalped the wicket of Rohit Sharma for a golden duck after he was trapped in front on the stumps and then cleaned up KL Rahul for an 8-ball 3 in quick succession with a peach of a delivery. 

The Men in Blue never really made a comeback from a disappointing start and kept losing wickets at regular intervals. 

It was only captain Virat Kohli who showed some mettle as he notched up a half-century but the right-hander too was undone by Shaheen for 57 off 49 eventually. India could only manage to put 151/7. Later, Pakistan chased down the target by 10 wickets and in less than 18 overs. Both Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam struck individual fifties during the course. 

Adil Rashid vs West Indies

The 2016 T20 World Cup finalists were up against each other in Dubai and the memories of that title clash were fresh among the English fans. But the England bowling unit had certainly come into this game with a determination of nullifying what had happened in 2016. 

While Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Jordan and Tymal Mills came as a nightmare for the Calypso side as they ripped through the top and middle order. West Indies were left tottering at 42/6 before Adil Rashid got into the act. 

The right-arm bowler was up against the likes of Kieron Pollard and Andre Russell who are famed in the world for their revival act in the shortest format of the game. But Rashid didn’t let the batsmen cut loose as he bagged the wickets of both Pollard and Russell in quick succession. 

While Russell was sent back in the hut for a two-ball duck, Pollard could only manage to score 6 off 14. Later, the spinner dismissed Obed McCoy and Ravi Rampaul quickly to bundle West Indies out for 55. Rashid returned with brilliant figures of 2/4 in 2.2 overs. 

England lost four wickets during the chase later on but eventually went over the line in the 9th over. 

Mujeeb Ur Rahman vs Scotland

Afghanistan’s Mujeeb Ur Rahman helped his side gather a huge NRR after he totally dismantled the Scotland side in Sharjah. Afghanistan had already put up a massive total of 190/4 in 20 overs and the Scotland batting unit had an uphill task to chase that down. 

The openers started off in a decent manner putting up 28 runs on the board but Mujeeb then removed Kyle Coetzer for 10 off 7. 

The first wicket certainly broke the shackles and Scotland lost wickets in quick succession to get reduced to 45/7 before getting bowled out for 60 and suffering a defeat by 130 runs. Mujeeb picked up a fifer at the cost of just 20 runs in 4 overs while his bowling partner Rashid Khan bagged a four-wicket haul for 9 runs in 2.2 overs. 

There were a few more brilliant spells in the tournament that couldn’t make it to the list. One of them was from Ireland’s Curtis Campher who created history against Netherlands after he picked up four wickets in four deliveries. 














He dismissed Colin Ackermann, Ryan ten Doeschate, Scott Edwards and Roelof van der Merwe on the trot. Ireland eventually won the match by 7 wickets after chasing down a target of 107 runs in 15.1 overs.  

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T20 World Cup | Road to final: Peaking at right time, Australia aspire to restore withering legacy

Australia have defied all their critics and sceptics to emerge into the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup and then their players showed remarkable temperament and audacity to overpower an unbeaten Pakistan side to enter the finals. They will be playing only their second final of the T20 World Cup and the Aaron Finch-led side would be eager to open their account in the global event of the shortest format as well after having won the ODI World Cup on as many as five occasions. They were one of the worst-performing sides in the bilateral series in the past few years leading up to the tournament and had also suffered a humiliating first series defeat at the hands of Bangladesh just a few weeks ahead of the marquee event. Here, we are looking at their journey from a side not tipped as even the third-best in Group A, touted as the group of death, to one of the finalists, on the brink of their maiden T20 title. Against South Africa They faced the in-form Proteas in the first game on the back of intense debate if the Australian side was good enough for the modern T20 game. There was a lot at stake in the game as ultimately the result of the game would have gone on to decide who among the two sides eventually made it into the semi-finals. A well-rounded bowling attack of the seam and spin bowling limited the Proteas to a meagre 118 runs from 20 overs. The trio of Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa and Josh Hazlewood picked up two wickets each while Pat Cummins was extremely accurate to pick up one wicket for 17 runs from his four overs. In reply, the Australians were in a spot of bother with the opening pair not bucking their poor form and failing to give them a steady start. There were wickets at regular intervals but the pair of Matthew Wade and Marcus Stoinis led a counter-attacking fight back for the first time in the tournament to take them home by five wickets. Against Sri Lanka Sri Lanka have had to come through to the Super 12 stage after passing through the qualifier stage and they looked like a side in momentum as their batsmen were up and about in the game against the Australian pacers. The trio of Kusal Perera, Charith Asalanka, and Bhanuka Rajapaksa made the Australian decorated bowling attack work hard, but they too were up for it and did not allow them to go away with the game. In pursuit of 155 runs which could have been a lot on the board if the openers would not have fired, David Warner and Finch made light work of the chase by adding 70 runs in just seven overs and in the end, they won it convincingly by seven wickets with 18 balls to spare. Against England With two wins out of the first game, England were up and running with full momentum in the tournament until they ran into their arch-rivals England, who were decimating every opponent coming their way and the Australians were not spared either. Losing the toss and being invited to bat first, Australia struggled to get the ball off the square and batsmen could not find any bit of timing to pace their innings. Turned out, they were bowled out for 125 runs on the board and as expected, England's batting lineup came out all guns blazing with the bat. The opening pair of Jason Roy and Jos Buttler added 66 runs but the real carnage followed after the departure of Roy. Buttler took a liking to the duo of Starc and Zampa and both conceded 37 runs each in their three overs that night. England thumped them and ripped open all the faultlines in their side. The Australians needed to pick themselves up as there were a lot remaining in the tournament and they were still in the race. Against Bangladesh Meanwhile, West Indies were on a downward slide with almost every game and it seemed unlikely that they would turn it on and reach the semi-finals implying both the Australian and the Proteas got the opportunity of qualifying that they were not given from the outset. But for that, Australia had to come back and that too resoundingly well to stay on the course for the qualification. They did exactly that by turning their fortunes around and inflicting excruciating pain on Bangladesh. Once again the trio of Starc, Hazlewood and Zampa were dominant and the leg spinner was the prominent one at that with a match-winning five-wicket haul that reduced Bangladesh to 73 runs. There, Australia got the opportunity to correct their run rate that wasn’t any better with a close win against South Africa and was further dismantled by a rampant England side and Jos Buttler. They chased down the target of 78 runs in only 6.2 overs and revived their world cup journey with sparkling colours. Against West Indies Australia were having a better tournament than the world had expected of them but so were the Proteas who were becoming consistent with each passing game. Hence there was an indirect collision between them on the last day of the group A games in the Super 12 stage. Australia and West Indies were playing on the first day of the contest while the Proteas were facing hot-favourites England in their last group game. For Australia to go through without any permutations and combinations, they needed England to defeat South Africa and vice-versa for South Africa as they needed the Windies to defeat Australia in order to gain direct qualification. However, things did not turn out that well for the Proteas’ expectation and Australia defeated West Indies and that too by a big margin that boosted their net run rate even further. South Africa were jolted but they had the last option of defeating England by more than 65 runs which appeared a mountainous task given England’s form till that moment in the tournament. Turned out, they defeated England but the margin was missed and so was their chance of qualifying into the semi-finals. South Africa would consider themselves unlucky as they got knocked out of the tournament with four wins out of the five games—same as Australia’s performance and one of their wins came against England—the most cherished side of the tournament. However, Australia were dominant in three out of the four games they won and that, in the end, gave them the competitive advantage over the Proteas and also a chance to secure a semi-final berth. Semi-final against Pakistan Aaron Finch had everything going into the big game against Pakistan as he won the very crucial toss in Dubai and also had a big legacy of Australia not losing even a single knockout game to Pakistan in the past. But, Pakistan, too, were onto something special and arrived in the semi-final having dismantled their curse against India. On top of that, they were the unbeaten side leading into the game and in T20Is played in the UAE. Both were the in-form sides and it was tipped off as a battle between the Australian bowling attack against Pakistan’s top order of Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan and Fakhar Zaman. Pakistan made a brilliant start and beat their previous best powerplay performances of the tournament as the opening pair stitched yet another long partnership. Fakhar finally came good with the bat on the night that mattered the most until that point in the tournament and Pakistan were having another significant advantage of having big runs on the board in a high-0ctane clash. Their star pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi did what he does best and removed Finch even before Australia could breathe a little. Mitchell Marsh and Warner tried to calm the nerves and up the ante against ever so impressive Pakistan bowling checked their growth. Shadab Khan weaved his magic and removed all of Marsh, Steve Smith, Warner and Glenn Maxwell in his four overs to leave them tottering at five down with the required run rate surging past 12 runs per over. However, there was no lack of firepower with the bat for Australia and fittingly, the pair of Wade and Stoinis, who had started their rise and opened their winning account in the tournament, led them to a superlative win and into the final. Wade decimated the Pakistan pace attack and made their impressive pacers look average and bewildered in face of a fierce counterattack that ended only with the Australians getting over the line. Australia have had an undisputed command over ICC tournaments in the past but that legacy seems to be withering away with each passing tournament. Now, having come so close to it, the Aaron Finch-led side would be desperate to leave a lasting impression on the world of cricket, and especially, in the format, they are known to excel in the past.