3 most disappointing aspects of T20 World Cup 2021

The T20 World Cup 2021 ended on Sunday in Dubai, with Australia defeating New Zealand by eight wickets in the summit clash. With the win, Australia registered their maiden triumph in the men’s T20 World Cup. They have already captured the 50-over World Cup five times and won the ICC Champions Trophy in 2006 and 2009.

For New Zealand, it was yet another heartbreak in a World Cup final. They went down to Australia in the 2015 World Cup final and lost out to England two years ago, the latter on the basis of a bizarre boundary count rule. And so, while the Kiwis are the reigning Test champions, their hunt for a white-ball World Cup trophy continues.

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What was not so good about the T20 World Cup 2021

While the T20 World Cup 2021 had its fair share of memorable moments, there were quite a few put-offs as well. We look back at three most disappointing aspects of the event.

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#3 Too many one-sided games

The West Indies vs Bangladesh match was among the few close encounters during the T20 World Cup 2021. Pic: Getty Images

The two semi-finals produced riveting contests. New Zealand came from behind to stun England courtesy a blazing knock from Daryl Mitchell and a superb cameo from James Neesham. The second semi-final between Australia and Pakistan was also tightly contested. Pakistan were dominant for the most part and it needed a one-off moment of brilliance from Matthew Wade to turn the tide Australia’s way.

The two knockout matches apart most of the other games, including the final, were heavily one-sided affairs. The West Indies vs Bangladesh, Afghanistan vs Pakistan and South Africa vs Sri Lanka clashes were a few exceptions. But otherwise, there was not a lot of joy for fans in terms of watching a competitive world event.

Considering the stature of the tournament, the T20 World Cup 2021 should have produced a lot more engaging encounters. Unfortunately, one of the pre-tournament favorites, India, were not up for the challenge mentally and physically. Bangladesh were a massive letdown while West Indies stood no chance of competing, having arrived with a squad well past their sell-by date.

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#2 Skewed scheduling and imbalanced groups

India played their first two matches a week apart. Pic: Getty Images

The poor scheduling of matches did not help the T20 World Cup 2021’s cause.

India played their first two matches two Sundays apart, against Pakistan and New Zealand respectively. This was possibly dictated by commercial interests as India could pull in bigger crowds and greater TV viewership. The huge gap did not help India, especially after they were tonked by Pakistan by 10 wickets. By the time they returned to play against New Zealand, they were in no cricketing rhythm at all.

India’s next three matches were against Afghanistan, Scotland and Namibia. Although they won all three, there was not much interest left among the fans, since India’s key matches were done and dusted at the very start. The India-Namibia match was an embarrassment of sorts, as the Men in Blue were playing a pointless encounter a day after they crashed out of the T20 World Cup 2021.

Even the division of teams in the groups wasn’t proper. One group was termed the "group of death" as it featured England, Australia, South Africa and West Indies, who were later joined by Bangladesh and Sri Lanka following their qualification from Round 1. Group 1 thus ended up having six Test-playing nations and South Africa could not make the semis despite winning four out of five games.

The other group had Pakistan, New Zealand, India and Afghanistan, who were joined by Namibia and Scotland. As a result, only a handful of games ended up being relevant in this group.

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#1 Toss was the boss

Virat Kohli and Mohammad Nabi before the toss. Pic: t20worldcup.com

The toss factor was undoubtedly the biggest disappointment of the T20 World Cup 2021. In fact, as soon as Australia won the toss in the final, social media was flooded with memes, asking for the trophy to be handed over to the Aussies.

They eventually won. And although dew did not have a major impact in the final, “win toss, win match” was, as harsh as it may sound, the mantra of the T20 World Cup 2021.

Both the semi-finals were also won by teams winning the toss and inserting the opposition in. Although India did not play great cricket in their first two matches against Pakistan and New Zealand, conditions were definitely better for their opponents, who batted second and chased down targets with ease.

In fact, the only match champions Australia lost in the T20 World Cup 2021 was when they batted first in the group game against England. They crawled to 125 after being sent in and were hammered by eight wickets in Dubai.

Starting from the Super 12s, only seven evening games were won by teams bowling second, and some of these victories were registered against associate nations. That’s a jarring stat for a tournament that is supposed to decide the best T20 team in the world.