Australia won T20 World Cup: Australia beat New Zealand by 8 wickets at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium tonight.
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Normal service appears to have resumed with respect to Australia winning white-ball World Cups. Having won three out of the first four ODI World Cups of this century, Australia have won another title after as many as six years.
A primary reason why Australia’s victory, on this particular occasion, is special is because they weren’t expected to lift the trophy. Not sure of qualifying for the semi-finals after losing to England, Australia have since emerged into a robust unit to beat Pakistan and New Zealand in the semi-final and final respectively.
Australia won T20 World Cup
Despite teams chasing successfully at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, a 173-run target was no mean task for the Aussies especially after they lost captain Aaron Finch (5) in the third over.
It was a match-winning 92-run partnership for the second wicket between opening batter David Warner (53) and all-rounder Mitchell Marsh (77*) which laid the foundation for an 8-wicket victory.
It was on the penultimate delivery of the penultimate over that all-rounder Glenn Maxwell (28*) reverse-swept Tim Southee for a boundary to win the match. Not just another match-winning shot, Maxwell’s boundary powered Australia to their first-ever T20 World Cup victory.
Most World Cup wins in Cricket
In the previous six T20 World Cups, Australia’s best performance had come more than a decade ago during the ICC World Twenty20 2010 in West Indies. Facing arch-rivals England in the final match in Barbados, Australia had failed to defend 148 runs back in the day.
All in all, this is Australia’s sixth white-ball World Cup victory (most by any team) in cricket. In addition to the World Cup, the Aussies also have a couple of Champions Trophy titled to their name.
