Did not catch most of the final except the last few overs so I missed out on a lot but it seemed like Pakistan’s batting could not deal with England’s bowling unit that has been exceptional. I said before that if England chase and bring their A game they will most likely win and this has happened. Pakistan’s team should be proud and so should their fans. This was a side that went into the tournament with questions lingering and they answered it very well by raising their game when it mattered. And as someone has already alluded to.. most sides seem to be in transition or heading there due to poor squad planning and a recent tendency in cricket to hand out opportunities to veterans in domestic cricket due to their T20 league experience being considered to be worthy whilst Pakistan have a side that will only grow stronger with their age profile.
Biggest threat to this as always has to be the familiar old enemies of the media and ex-cricketers passing all sorts of nonsense under the guise of opinion and ‘expert takes’ and the risks of injury/mismanagement of their pacers. I’d probably rest Shaheen for a while.. he was already one of those pacers who played almost every series and game prior to this and he needs to be better managed going forward. There’s been a top pace prospect in every PSL season, get them in the setup and let them fly.
My overall take on the tournament…
The Overachievers:
Pakistan
No surprises here I guess as their fairytale run took them to the final despite missing a first choice batter and with question marks over their star pacer’s fitness and the middle order. One wonders what might have been possible if their world class openers were more consistent.
New Zealand
They’ve been on a superb run in white ball tournaments over the last seven years barring one CT but it still needs reminding that their depth is lacking compared to the bigger nations and they are achieving great things despite that. This is also a side that is supposed to be in transition and yet stubbornly refuses to overhaul the team in early bilaterals, preferring to only take the risks nearer to a tournament. They were in a group with the last two WC winners and the Asia Cup winners and were in middling form in multiple bilateral series with question marks over the form of key players like Kane, Lockie et al. Despite that they managed one of the best wins in this tournament over their arch nemesis and achieved a respectable semis spot in the end.
Netherlands
They will have to be proud of their results in this campaign. Two wins over full members and they almost pushed two others for a win. That bowling attack of theirs looks so good and if they can manage to bring in another aggressive batsman to this lineup they can challenge seriously in even more games.
Ireland
I do know that they’re a full member but they were probably the worst full member T20I side going into this tournament with a very questionable record in the past with over-reliance on a few players. In the end though they’ve managed two wins over fellow full member sides, seem to have figured out a good role for a keeper batsman finally and players with questions over their suitability for T20Is did manage to answer them partly at the last. Could have even managed a win against Afghanistan if not for rain in this form. Should be a side to watch out for going forward now that Netherlands manages to secure direct qualification for the next WC.
United Arab Emirates
They headed into the tournament having dropped an icon of their cricketing team with a more youthful squad selected instead and very nearly pushed Netherlands for their first WC win before securing it vs Namibia, a strong associate side. Given the state of their team earlier they will be happy with this result and will head into the next qualifiers with renewed confidence and possibly a better squad that will have the experience of a domestic T20 league filled with stars.
The Underachievers:
Australia
This wasn’t a performance worthy of defending champions at all. They had many star names in this squad with home advantage to boot and they still didn’t turn up. Stars like MMarsh, David, Warner and Starc all failed by their standards. Finch and Cummins despite their average returns in the tournament always felt like a poor fit in this XI that was already struggling with out of form stars. Their wins against Ireland and Afghanistan were not clinical and they also suffered a massive loss to a side they previously had the wood over, all of which ended up costing them a spot in the semis. Going forward they will have to change their game plan and look at phasing out a side filled with increasingly older players with questionable fitness records.
South Africa
They had one job to do heading into the final game and they blew it massively. This was their chance to finally be in a T20 WC final with the conditions suiting their pacers and the style of batting that was previously on display but all this campaign yielded for them was an impressive thrashing of Bangladesh and an unconvincing win over India. That washed out game against Zimbabwe will haunt this side for years to come alongside the Netherlands loss. Main players like Rabada, Miller and Markram failed to turn up while other batters were inconsistent. Bavuma’s lack of impact and questionable comments over Hendricks‘ omission post-tournament only bode poorly for this side. They need a rethink in their squad planning, leadership and they need it soon to get going for the next tournament.
West Indies
Six years ago this side was on top of the world. Since then it has only been a tale of doom and gloom in white ball cricket for them and their exit in the early phase will haunt them and is already having massive repercussions with the axing of their head coach. They seem to have finally run out of T20 superstars to count on by the time a WC appears and the lack of a domestic T20 tournament alongside COVID interruptions to other domestic tournaments appears to be finally affecting them. With an outdated style of batting and a lack of newer players establishing themselves in the XI properly they have a massive task ahead of them if they want to remain competitive in the next WC which will be held on their soil.
The Disappointed?
I’m just going to summarise the remaining sides here.
Afghanistan were the only side in the super twelve to not manage a single win in a rain interrupted campaign and came into the tournament with questions of interference in squad selection and have lost their T20I captain after the tournament due to it without any obvious candidate standing out.
They came in as dark horses after an impressive Asia Cup win but
Sri Lanka only managed to embarrass themselves in the very first match after being outplayed by
Namibia who will also be disappointed that they failed to qualify for the next stage after such a strong start. The former had further chances to establish famous wins in the super twelve and had Australia and NZ both worried in their respective games but managed to mess up winning situations twice owing to their own lack of discipline with the ball and in the field.
Scotland will also feel hard done by after two narrow losses (especially the Ireland one) and a strong early win vs West Indies.
India still has familiar woes plaguing her with a questionable T20I batting style resurfacing after a year of the opposite, lack of conviction in their two wins against fellow Asian sides and a humiliating loss in the semis to the eventual champions. With a big talent pool and promising names in the mix how long will the senior players be tolerated after multiple campaigns ending on familiar notes?
Bangladesh and
Zimbabwe will both feel disappointed too, the former came very close to winning vs their arch rivals and qualifying for the semis of the WC for the first time whilst the latter will be displeased at throwing away an equally enticing chance at the knockouts after losing narrowly to the former and the Dutch. Neither have a particularly strong T20 core to work with barring their pace attacks and both rely on two ageing star all-rounders for their chances. At least the former have a very good shout as a dark horse if they can get their house in order with a few talented prospects turning up for the first team on the slower pitches of West Indies in the next WC.
My Teams of the Tournament:
I’ll have only one player from each country in this XI.
Najmul Hossain Shanto (really wasn’t a tournament for openers)
Virat Kohli (think he’s come out to bat in the powerplay in every game so is already an opener)
Lorcan Tucker
Glenn Phillips
Sikandar Raza
Marcus Stoinis
Shadab Khan
Wanindu Hasaranga
Sam Curran
Paul van Merkeeran
Anrich Nortje
Shadab can captain because he’s an absolute gun. Two solid death bowling options, a middle overs enforcer, all three pacers capable of powerplay spells and two wrist spinners hunting for wickets with two finger spinners to back them up. Opening pair won’t really take advantage of the powerplay but in a tournament with the theme of slow starts that seems appropriate. At least you know they’ll not lose their wicket easily. If you need an aggressor at the top SKY can come in for Kohli at four and Allen can replace Phillips as an opener. Maxi perhaps could come in for Stoinis too.
If I had to do a ‘my best XI with no restrictions’ type of selection…
Jos Buttler
Alex Hales
Virat Kohli
Suryakumar Yadav
Glenn Phillips
Sikandar Raza
Shadab Khan
Sam Curran
Shaheen Shah Afridi
Anrich Nortje
Josh Little
Unlucky ones to miss out: Wood (thought he was extremely good and a match changer but missing out on knockouts holds him back), Arshdeep, Hasaranga (he did take most wickets against weaker sides but still deserves a mention as the leading wicket-taker), The Dutch Thor, Taskin, Rashid (clutch knockout performances), Santner, Mendis. As shown though this really wasn’t a tournament for batters.
Overall though I really liked this tournament, thought it was one of the best WCs we’ve ever has hopefully the next one is as good as this. Enjoyed posting here too and it was fun with every member who contributed here.
