The seventh edition of the ICC T20 World Cup was held in 2021 in the Middle East, across the United Arab Emirates and Oman.
Originally, this edition was meant to be held in Australia in 2020 but due to COVID-19, the event was postponed.
The ICC confirmed that the event would be hosted by India in 2021, but in June 2021 the ICC once again changed the host nation due to growing concerns over the pandemic situation in India. Thus, the UAE and Oman got the hosting rights.
The World Cup was divided into two stages, the Group stage and the Super 12s. India, along with the top nine ranked ICC Full Members qualified for the tournament directly. Out of these 10 teams, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and the six teams who qualified through the 2019 ICC T20 World Cup qualifiers were put into the Group stages.
The top 4 teams from the Group stages would qualify for the Super 12s.
Group A matches were held in the UAE and Group B matches were held in Oman. After the conclusion of the Group Stages, the Super 12s consisted of 2 groups.
Group 1: Australi, Bangladesh, England, South Africa, Sri Lanka, West Indies
Group 2: Afghanistan, India, Namibia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland
Here are the top 5 matches from the 2021 T20 World Cup.
Unbeaten Pakistan faced Australia in the second Semi-Final at the Dubai Sports City on November 11.
Pakistan batted first and their prolific opening pair of Babar Azam (39) and Mohammad Rizwan (67) started the innings strongly. Some late order hitting from Fakhar Zaman (55 off 32 balls), including an assault on premier Australian quick Mitchell Starc lifted Pakistan to a commanding score of 176.
Pakistan looked the favourite to reach the final when the Australian captain Aaron Finch was trapped lbw on the third ball of the innings. David Warner (49) and Mitch Marsh (28) kept them in the chase but Pakistan would not go down without a fight. Shadab Khan put the brakes on the run chase with four wickets for just 26 runs.
Australia needed 22 runs in the last two overs when the ball was given to the star pacer, Shaheen Shah Afridi. The decisive moment of the match was when Matthew Wade was dropped in the 19th over by Hasan Ali at deep mid-wicket. Wade did not needed another chance as he slogged and ramped Afridi for three consecutive sixes to seal the game on the last ball of the 19th over. Deservedly, Wade was named Man of the Match and he put the only dent in Afridi's glorious 2021.
Two neighboring nations took part in the 24th game of the tournament, with Pakistan playing Afghanistan in Dubai on October 29.
Afghanistan won the toss and elected to bat first. After a bad start, the middle and lower-middle order of the Afghani team made sure that they scored a respectable 147/6 in their 20 overs. Mohammad Nabi and Gulbadin Naib top scored for the Afghanistan team, both scoring 35* each. Imad Wasim was the pick of the bowlers, taking 2/25. Shaheen Shah Afridi and Shadab Khan also had economical bowling spells with both having an Economy rate of 5.50 runs per over.
Pakistan's chase was kept on track by Babar Azam and Fakhar Zaman, who scored 51 and 30 runs respectively. They set the platform for Asif Ali to showcase his power-hitting skills. When Ali came to the crease, Pakistan still needed a further 26 runs off 3 overs. This became 24 runs in 2 overs when the ball was handed over to Karim Janat, who until then had decent figures of 0/24 in his three overs.
In one spectacular over, Ali hit Janat for 4 sixes and sealed the game for Pakistan. This was the one magical moment that made this match worth watching. Ali was named the player of the match.
West Indies played Bangladesh in the 23rd match of the event. The match was played in Sharjah on October 29. Bangladesh won the toss and sent West Indies in to bat. On a tough batting pitch, the only real innings of substance were played by Nicholas Pooran who scored 40 off 22 balls. This included 4 sixes and 1 four. Mustafizur Rahman's 20th over went for 19 runs and this allowed the Windies to crawl to 142. Bangladesh's Shoriful Islam had decent figures of 2/20 in 4 overs.
Bangladesh's innings weren't smooth at all. Lack of intent from the Bangladeshi batters along with some disciplined bowling by the Windies made sure that the task was too much for the Bangladeshi team. This ended up with 13 runs needed off the last over, which then became 4 off the last ball. Andre Russell was able to hold up his nerve as Bangladesh went down by 3 runs.
Pooran was named the player of the match for his explosive innings on a difficult pitch.
England clashed with South Africa in the 39th game of the 2021 ICC T20 World Cup in Sharjah on November 6.
England decided to field first, which proved to be a wrong decision. South Africa had a field day with the bat as they bludgeoned the English bowlers all around Sharjah to score 189 for the loss of just 2 wickets. Top scorer Rassie van der Dussen was unlucky to miss out on a ton as he scored 94* with the help of 6 sixes and 5 fours. Aiden Markram scored 52 off just 25 balls. Reeza Hendricks missed out on a flat track as he was the only South African batter to have a single-figure score in the innings. Where every English bowler had an economy rate greater than 8.00, Moeen Ali used his experience to pick up 1 wicket for 27 runs with a rate of 6.75.
Coming out to bat, England was right in the chase, with their top three batters scoring 20, 26, and 37 runs with a strike rate of over 130 each. Useful scores from Dawid Malan, Liam Livingstone, and Eoin Morgan made sure that England stayed in the match. They needed 14 off the last over, which was bowled by Kagiso Rabada.
Rabada had a dream start to the final over, taking the wickets of Chris Woakes, Morgan, and Chris Jordan to earn a hat-trick and finish off the match for England.
South Africa won the match by 10 runs and Dussen was named the deserved player of the match.
Scotland played New Zealand for the 32nd game of the 2021 tournament in Dubai on November 3.
Scotland won the toss and elected to field first. New Zealand opener Martin Guptill hit a fine 93, which included 7 sixes and 6 fours. Apart from him, the only New Zealander to have an innings of substance was Glenn Phillips, who scored 33. The lack of experience of the Scottish bowlers was evident as they gave away 20 runs in extras. The final New Zealand score of 172 seemed too much for Scotland and the innings break.
But Scotland had other plans. Their top six batters all scored in double digits with Michael Leask top scoring with 42*. In the end, the total was too much for the Scottish team but they showed character and lost the game by just 16 runs. Guptill was named the player of the match.