T20 World Cup final Man of the Match: The Sportsrush presents you the list of players who’ve bagged man of the match awards in T20 WC finals
The ultimate clash to the summit of the ongoing 2021 ICC T20 World Cup is underway, with Australia’s Aaron Finch winning the all-important Toss yet again and deciding to bowl first against New Zealand at the Dubai International Stadium.
The Cricketing fraternity is ready to embrace a new T20 World champion, and it will be either Australia or New Zealand who will lift the coveted silverware for the first time ever in the tournament’s history- which commenced in the year 2007.
Meanwhile, the ongoing T20 World Cup is the 6th edition of the tournament conducted by the International Cricket Council (ICC). India, Pakistan, England have won the tournament once in the years 2007, 2009, and 2010 respectively, while the West Indies have won the silverware twice in 2012 and 2016 respectively.
Let’s have a look at the players who stepped up on the eve of the Final in the aforementioned World Cup finals for their respective sides.
T20 World Cup final Man of the Match: Players who stepped up in the Finals of the tournament
IRFAN PATHAN
Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan’s impressive figure and a match-winning spell of 3/16 in the night of the final at Johannesberg versus arch-rivals Pakistan meant that India lifted the first edition of the World Cup in 2007, under the captainship of MS Dhoni.
Irfan picked up the wickets of Yasir Arafat, Shahid Afridi and Shoaib Malik to guide India to their maiden T20 World Cup title.
SHAHID AFRIDI
In the very next edition of the T20 World Cup in England in 2009, it was Pakistan who lifted the World Cup after ending as runner-ups in the previous edition against India.
Shahid Afridi turned up on the day of the Final with a 40-ball 54 with the bat, before finishing a neat spell of 1/20 with the ball to guide his team to the maiden title against Sri Lanka.
CRAIG KIESWETTER
England wicketkeeper-batter Craig Kieswettwer’s match-winning knock of 63 in the final against Australia meant that England won their first ever ICC tournament ever in the history of the sport.
MARLON SAMUELS
While one player of the match award in an ICC event final is enough for the world to remember you for many years to come, West Indies’ Marlon Samuels turned up twice in two successive World Cups for his side- in 2012 and 2016.
Playing on a tough wicket in Colombo, Samuels scored 78 runs off 56 deliveries to guide West Indies to 137/6 against Sri Lanka. Sunil Narine and co. defended the low score as West Indies won their first T20 World Cup title.
Four years later- in the 2016 T20 World Cup final in India, he won the Man of the Match award against England. He aggregated 85 runs off 66 deliveries and played a huge role in West Indies’ championship win.
MITCHELL MARSH
With a splendid knock of 77 runs off 50 deliveries, the Aussie all-rounder Mitchell Marsh was adjudged the man/player of the final in the 2021 World Cup at UAE. His knock was instrumental in chasing down the score of 172/4 posted by New Zealand.
It is worth mentioning that this was Mitchell Marsh’s 6th score of 50+ and amazingly, all of them have been hit this year itself in his 10-year-long T20 career.
