Another major sporting event concluded without any hiccup after a pandemic-forced cancellation in 2020. The T-20 World Cup was scheduled to be held in Australia last year, which eventually got underway in the United Arab Emirates in October 2021 after India became an undesirable destination post the deadly second wave of the Coronavirus earlier this year. As they say, all’s well that ends well, it’s time to look at some of the positive aspects of the tournament. In this endeavor let us examine some of the top-notch performers at this year’s T-20 carnival.
David Warner (Australia)
The southpaw dramatically turned things around in his favour with some scintillating knocks, especially against Pakistan and New Zealand in the final. Everybody had written off the Australian opener after a mediocre IPL performance that saw him getting dropped from the franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad. However, the stylish stroke player banished the IPL ghost and put his best feet forward in the UAE to score 289 runs from seven matches to win the “Player of The Tournament” award. Warner was also the second-highest scorer in the T20 World Cup.
Babar Azam (Pakistan)
Another player who is fast climbing the charts of popularity is the Pakistan captain and the numero uno batsman in the T-20 format. The Asian sensation’s exploits have always prompted comparison with the likes of Kohli, Williamson, Root etc, but the soft-spoken Pakistan batter has always dismissed such parallels. saying he has a long way to go before being compared to the present-day batting legends. In the current world cup, Babar was the highest scorer with 303 runs from six matches. In the end, one can only say that he lost the “Player of the Tournament” honour to David Warner due to his inability to improve his strike rate at a crucial juncture, the knock-out game against Australia.
Mohammed Rizwan (Pakistan)
Another batsman to break into the top league of this year’s world cup in terms of batting is an upcoming player with a promising future. After this world cup, Rizwan’s performance is going to be the major talking point in heated cricket debates. Despite having no time to recuperate after getting operated on for a lung infection, the wicket-keeper batsman scored a majestic 67 in the semi-final game against the Oz. This speaks in volume about his resilience and brilliance. Rizwan was the third-highest run-getter with 281 runs in 6 matches and with age, on his side, he is destined for more glories in the future.
Wanindu Hasaranga (Sri Lanka)
The mystery bowler from Sri Lanka has been hitting the right notes since he entered international cricket in 2017. However, nobody, in their wildest imagination, would have thought he could be the highest wicket-taker in the current T-20 world cup. Yes, he is the one with the maximum number of wickets in the tournament, 16 in 8 matches. His hat-trick against South Africa made him the first bowler from the island nation to strike thrice in a row in a T-20 World Cup. After watching Hasaranga’s performance one can only hope that he helps revive the Sri Lankan cricket team’s fortunes, which have nosedived in the last couple of years across all formats.
Trent Boult (New Zealand)
The Kiwi bowler has been a consistent performer for his national team for a while now. With deceptive pace as the chief weapon in his bowling armoury, Boult also has the rare ability to swing the ball both ways. These rare qualities make him a dangerous pacer to deal with even for the best batters in international cricket. Boult is the joint second-highest wicket-taker in the T-20 World Cup in the UAE with 13 wickets from 7 matches and his tight spell of 3-20 against India was largely responsible for the hasty exit of the much-celebrated team from this year’s world cup.
