After a long wait, we finally got to watch the world-class players representing their international teams and competing with others to win the T20 World cup. Give all your hate to the pandemic that ICC has to shift this impeccable tournament to Dubai from India. It all started to get bad for Team India from that day, not making up to the top fours in a tournament in which India particularly masters must be daunting for everyone.
However, if you are a cricket fan then the recently concluded T20 WorldCup must have been a treat for you. We saw some remarkable and unforgettable moments and a few of them for the very first time. So, we thought of enlightening you with some distinct events that happened in this T20 World cup. So, without wasting a single second let us move ahead. This will be fun for every Cricket fan.
1. Pakistan Finally Beats India
Image Source: Pinterest
Cricket is like religion in both India and Pakistan. The rivalry between India and Pakistan is well known to everyone. No matter where you are, you know India vs Pakistan is always a firing contest. If you win you will be on the shoulders of your fans and if you lose you will be the talk of the town but in a bad way. And it was one of the events that we finally witnessed after Pakistan beat India for the very first time in any World cup. First, it was the Champions Trophy final and now getting beaten by Pakistan in the very first match of the T20 WC. This is something that Indians will want to forgive as soon as possible. With this win, Pakistan broke their five-match losing streak against India in the T20 world cups.
2. Scotland Won Their All Associate Nation Matches In A Group Stage
Image Source: Pinterest
Cricket is expanding across the globe as more and more nations are getting interested to get involved with cricket. The participation of Scotland and Namibia is the proof of the above statement however, Scotland has already been part of ICC’s panel for a very long time now. Before the start of the world cup, everyone was expecting some action-packed performance from the Associate nations and Scotland emerged as the underdogs by winning all their matches on the group stage and became the first team to do so.
Although they were not able to win a single match in the Super 12s, still the moments from the group stage are worth remembering for a long time. They won all their group stage matches and became the first Associate team proceeding to the Super 12s stage undefeated in the history of the T20 World Cup.
3. Namibia Won A Match At Global ICC Tournament
Image Source: Pinterest
Talking about Associate nations and we have Namibia in the surprise bucket for you. First Namibia made it to the Super 12s by beating Netherlands and Ireland who didn’t need any introduction. But the feat we are talking about is they were able to win a game in an ICC event for the first time. They defeated Scotland in the Super 12s stage as it was a strong performance by the whole team. We are sure they cherish this moment all their lives and motivate by it for the development of cricket in Namibia.
4. Virat Kohli Was The Captain For The Very First And The Last Time In A T20 WC
Image Source: Pinterest
In all the previous ICC T20 WC, MS Dhoni captained team India including the very first T20 WC in 2007 which India ended up winning. But something strange happened before the start of the tournament. Virat Kohli announced that he will leave the role of captain of the Indian T20 team after the World Cup. So, a distinct event took place, with Virat becoming the first captain to lead India in a T20 WC after MS Dhoni and it was his last time as a captain in a T20 WC as well.
Apart from this, another bad thing happened in the recently concluded T20 WC that both Virat and his fans want to forget as soon as possible. We all know that Virat Kohli is known as the backbone of the Indian cricket team. He has played three other T20s WC apart from this one and in each one of them, he was the highest run-getter for India. But this time the legend’s bat wasn’t talking enough as he was able to make only 68 runs as his average and strike rate were below 40 and 120 respectively. Something which also happened for the very first time. Virat Kohli has always been prolific for team India but it’s time for him to make runs again.
5. Australia Won The T20 World Cup
Image Source: Pinterest
Australia was always the conqueror when it comes to ICC events. The record time world cup winning team was lacking a T20 World Cup in their trophy cabinet and it finally happened when they beat New Zealand in the finals comfortably. Australia reached the finals back in 2010 against England but was not able to win the tournament at that time. They were not even the favorites of the experts before the tournament started but they showed their championship instinct at every level of the tournament and they ended up winning the tournament.
6. Super 12s
Earlier editions of the T20 World Cup used to have different formats as it was the first time that 12 international teams were competing against each other. From 2007 to 2012, the second round of the T20 world cups used to feature eight teams and was called Super 8. However, in 2015, ICC increased the number of teams by 2 and named the round Super 10s. It was the first instance that 12 teams were playing the second round of the T20 WC.
Endnotes
These are some strange or unique things that happened for the very first time in a T20 World Cup. Apart from the mentioned points, other unique things include, a country hosting the world cup final was not part of the ICC T20 World Cup(as WC was in UAE), Papua New Guinea made their debut in the T20 World cups, New Zealand reached the finals the first time and Chris Gayle had a strike rate of less than 100. Moreover, we tried to point out the most interesting facts in the above list. We hope you got to know about some new facts. Until next time, Goodbye!