How ‘wowstralia’ created history

By K.R. Nayar from Dubai

For the majority of the  fans that turned up for  the final, their hearts  were with the New  Zealand team. Many believe  that they are the nice guys of  cricket. Like the famous song  ‘Nice Guys finish last’ they  could finish only as runners-up  failing in yet another whiteball cricket final. The ruthless  Australians emerged as the new  champions in the ICC T20 World  Cup through their superior  fighting spirit.

For the Australians, once  they sense the chances of a  victory, they will go for the  kill. Over the years, they have  destroyed their opponents in  this manner. In this tournament, they also proved that a  defeat can actually help them  gain momentum. It was their  humiliating eight-wicket  defeat at the hands of England  that made them bounce back  strongly. After that, they were  unstoppable.

Everyone will agree that  Australians fight tooth and nail  in a contest, and they displayed  it in the final too. They revel in  removing anything that stands  in their way from accomplishing their goal. The humiliation  from a defeat or a personal  setback is something that the  Australians can never accept.  They have shown that they  hate to rest until and unless  they regain their glory. This is  what led David Warner to play  those match-winning knocks  and emerge as the Player of the  Tournament.

Warner was humiliated by  Sunrisers Hyderabad during the  IPL, stripped off his captaincy,  and even asked not to come to  the match but stay back in the  team hotel. He returned to the  same venue in this World Cup  and got everyone to clap for  him. After being suspended for  one year in 2019 for his part in  the infamous ball-tampering  scandal in South Africa, Warner  has bounced back. Push him  or any Australian to the wall  and they will bounce back so  strongly that they can intimidate any opponent.

Winning the toss did help  Australia, but that alone cannot  help a team become champions. New Zealand skipper  Kane Williamson admitted to  this fact during the post-match  press conference when he said:  “It (toss) did have an effect.  Some dew did come in. But take  nothing away from the quality  of Australia. They came out in  the final and played superbly  well.” This is also why Australia  recorded the highest run chase  in the final of a T20 World Cup.

Williamson played a stupendous knock of 85 runs, but others in his team should have also  risen to the challenge of a final  and contributed. Their bowling  failed to click in this match, and  lt could be because of the dew.  Warner set the momentum and  Mitchell Marsh, who is considered one of the finest players  of pace, took over. Sixes and  boundaries flowed with ease in  their race towards the target.  The manner in which the Australians went about the task by  dominating the bowling was a  treat to watch. They played like  champions and emerged as the  champions.

Australia skipper Aaron  Finch rightly remarked during  the post-match press conference: “We played some really  good cricket. We played cricket  where we put teams on the back  foot because we are aggressive.”

Australia will continue to  rule as long as opponents do not  imbibe their traits of aggressiveness and the ruthless spirit  to win.