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.
4. England and South Africa fight it out in high-scoring affair
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.
