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After 26 days of non-stop, exuberant cricketing action in the T20 World Cup, Australia were crowned as the World T20 Champions for the first time in history, comprehensively defeating New Zealand in the finals by eight wickets in Dubai.
In a tournament where the toss played a huge role in the outcome of the games, the quality of cricket, regardless, was top-notch. Conditions in the UAE didn't allow many fixtures to be a 'run-fest', and instead provided an upright competition between bat and ball.
It is fairly said that batters win you games, but bowlers win you tournaments. Australia, with the lethal pace trio of Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazelwood alongside one of the best bowlers of the tournament, Adam Zampa, did justice to the axiom fairly well. Australia's bowling department, which hadn't played together before the World Cup, became one of the strongest reasons for Australia's successful campaign.
Of all the 526 wickets we saw at the T20 World Cup 2021, there were as many as three instances of hat-tricks in the tournament. Curtis Campher, Wanindu Hasaranga and Kagiso Rabada all displayed individual brilliance by taking hat-tricks for their respective nations.
Bowlers who used their skills and variations effectively were regularly able to find success in defending their first innings score or restricting the opposition from the get-go throughout the competition.
In this article, we will look at three bowling performances in the World Cup which proved to be the main cause for their team's success.
3. Ruben Trumpelmann vs. Scotland - 3 for 17
What a memorable T20 World Cup Namibia had. The Southwestern African nation contested in a high-intensity tournament like the World Cup for the very first time. After winning a couple of matches in Round 1, they successfully qualified for the Super 12s.
Namibia began off their Super 12 campaign on a high note, beating the Scottish outfit in their first match at Abu Dhabi. Namibia's left-arm pacer Ruben Trumpelmann, who bowled a fiery spell with a new ball, guided his side to a famous victory.
Delivering arguably the best over of the tournament, Trumpelmann took three wickets in his very first over against Scotland. After ransacking George Munsey's stumps on the first ball of the innings, the left-armer was quick to send MacLeod and Berrington back to the pavilion as well.
The Scottish batters never really got back into the game after a Trumpelmann's blazing first over. They were only able to score 109 runs, and Namibia were able to win the game by four wickets. Ruben Trumpelmann was adjudged player of the match for his game-winning figures of 4-03-17-3.
2. Josh Hazelwood vs New Zealand (Finals) - 3 for 16
The only player to feature in both the IPL 2021 and T20 World Cup 2021 finals, Josh Hazlewood outshone his two compatriots in Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins in this T20 World Cup.
Hazlewood, 30, produced one of his best performances for Australia in T20Is against New Zealand in the T20 World Cup 2021 finals. Bowling with unnerving accuracy, the tall bowler made it extremely difficult for the Kiwi batters to score any runs off of him.
After leaking just four runs in his first over, Hazlewood knicked the edge of Daryl Mitchell's bat to provide Australia with their first wicket. He then followed it up with a two-run over, keeping it tight against Guptill and Williamson. Giving away just 11 runs in his first three overs, captain Aaron Finch saved Hazlewood's last over for the back end of the innings.
Bowling his fourth and the innings' 18th over, Hazlewood delivered a "match-turning" over for Australia. The runs were leaking, Kane Williamson was on a rampage, and a score of 190+ was looking more and more possible. The right-armer bowled into the wicket to dispatch of danger man Kane Williamson, as well as wicket-keeper Glenn Phillips.
Josh Hazlewood was monumental in his side's famous victory in the final. Being the best Australian bowler of the night, Hazlewood ended up with the hugely impressive figures of 3 for 16.
1. Shaheen Shah Afridi vs India - 3 for 31
Left-armer Shaheen Shah Afridi almost single-handedly crushed Indian dreams on the day of the much-anticipated India-Pakistan fixture. After putting India in to bat first, Pakistan, especially Afridi, came out firing on all cylinders.
The 21-year old bowled an unplayable inswinging toe-crusher to get Rohit Sharma out on the very first ball he faced. He then nipped back in and snuck through KL Rahul to hit the top of the middle stump, arguably bowling the ball of the tournament.
After a couple of counter-attacking shots from Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav, Afridi returned to bowl the 19th over of the match. The tall left-arm pacer bowled a slower, short, angling-across delivery to send the Indian skipper back to the pavilion.
The lethal Pakistani speedster was rightfully declared Man of the Match for his ferocious spell against the top-heavy Indian batting unit.
Honorable mentions:
Adam Zampa vs Bangladesh - 5 for 19
Wanindu Hasaranga vs South Africa - 3 for 20
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