Australian men's team finally broke the jink and won the only limited-overs ICC trophy that has alluded them for a long time as they won their maiden T20 World Cup on Sunday, November 14 against New Zealand in Dubai. Australian skipper Aaron Finch won his sixth toss in seven games and in the end, it proved to be a huge factor in his own admission.
The men in yellow had a fantastic start with the ball as even though they got just one wicket in form of New Zealand's semi-final hero Daryl Mitchell, however, they were able to stem the run-flow.
Martin Guptill wasn't able to time the ball well and Kane Williamson was his usual watchful self early in his innings and New Zealand's scoring wasn't going anywhere. They were 57/1 after 10 overs and needed someone to take on Australian bowlers and boy captain Kane arrived and how.
After the drinks break, Williamson just ripped apart Australian bowlers, especially severe on Mitchell Starc. He got a reprieve from Josh Hazlewood at fine leg as Williamson hit three fours in a row to amp up the scoring rate.
Guptill got out but Williamson had turned it on. In the next over, he came down the ground against Maxwell and swung his but one hand came off but it sailed over the deep mid-wicket boundary for a maximum. Williamson followed it up with another one on the next ball as he brought up the fastest fifty for a batter in the Men's T20 World Cup final.
However, the turning point of the innings came in the 16th over, bowled by Mitchell Starc as Williamson smashed him for four fours and a six accumulating 22 runs off the over and he was now striking at 180. This was a sensational recovery by New Zealand from where they were at one point.
Williamson got out soon after but had ensured that New Zealand got to a score above 170, which seemed near-impossible the way this innings started.
New Zealand got the early wicket of Aaron Finch, who was a little tentative and despite hitting one off the middle, he hit towards the square-leg boundary and Daryl Mitchell ran and grabbed onto a stunner.
After which, it was all Australia. New Zealand kept bowling short and David Warner and Mitchell Marsh just kept smashing them.
Warner was going run-a-ball, so Marsh was the aggressor and took the attack to the opposition. The first blitz came in the fourth over of the innings bowled by Adam Milne, where he hit a six and two fours off the first three balls and he stamped his authority over the game.
Afterwards, the Blackcaps were able to sneak in a quiet powerplay despite a six off Tim Southee by David Warner. Post the powerplay, they just went mad and hell for leather.
Marsh hit a six off Mitchell Santner in the eighth over and then Warner took charge hitting a couple of boundaries and a six in the ninth over bowled by Ish Sodhi, and it was quickly slipping away from them.
Marsh and Warner hit a six each in Jimmy Neesham's over and the latter brought up his third half-century of the tournament.
Trent Boult clean bowled Warner in the next over, but it was just delaying the inevitable as Marsh notched up his half-century soon. After which, it was just formalities as Marsh and Maxwell finished it off in the 19th over.
This was Australia's men's team's first title but wasn't the first for the country as the women's team has won five T20 World Cups.
Cricketers, experts, fans reacted to Australia's maiden title win. Here are some of them:
