Australia have won the Trans-Tasman battle to claim the seventh edition of the ICC T20 World Cup. A comprehensive 8 wickets victory has ensured Australia their first-ever T20 World Cup title.
In response to the target of 173, Australia lost their skipper Aaron Finch (5 off 7) quite early in the innings as Trent Boult got him caught in the deep.
Soon after, David Warner and Mitchell Marsh started taking the bowlers on as the Aussies managed to have 43/1 on the board at the end of the powerplay.
Spinners - Sodhi and Santner - came from both ends immediately after the powerplay but could not create any impact in the middle. They gave away 39 runs in four overs between themselves as Australia were well on course to win their first-ever men’s T20 WC Title halfway through.
Smacking Neesham over cow corner, David Warner reached his half-century from 34 deliveries at the eleventh over of the innings. At the midpoint of the following over, Australia reached 100, rocketing towards the target set by the Kiwis.
Pleading for a breakthrough, captain Williamson went back to his premier fast bowler Trent Boult for the thirteenth over. And Boult responded immediately removing the dangerous-looking Warner (53 off 38) at the expense of only 3 runs in that over.
Marsh, however, decided not to have any change in his approach - reaching his fifty in 31 balls hitting Sodhi out of the park. Just when everyone thought Boult pegged the game back, Sodhi released the pressure conceding 16 runs in an over.
Marsh and Maxwell kept on hitting the ball all around the park, adding another 24 runs in the next two overs as Australia's requirement came down to run a ball in the last four overs.
The pair finished the rest of the job with 8 wickets in hand and 7 balls to spare as Marsh and Maxwell remained unbeaten at 77 runs (50 balls) and 28 runs (18 balls) respectively.
Trent Bout was brilliant for the Kiwis with the ball with a spell of 2/18, but all in vain.
Earlier in the game, after losing the toss, New Zealand were put in to bat first. They had a pretty slow going at the first half of the innings as they were at 32/1 after the powerplay and 57/1 halfway through.
But after the drinks interval, it was all New Zealand - Kane Williamson to be more specific. The Kiwi skipper played an amazing knock of 85 runs off just 48 deliveries - marking the best innings by any captain in a T20 World Cup Final (surpassing Kumar Sangakkara’s 64* vs Pakistan at Lord’s in 2009).
Phillips, Neesham, and Seifert all chipped in with small but effective contributions as the Blackcaps accumulated 115 runs in the latter half of the innings.
For Australia, Josh Hazlewood was the pick of the bowlers with his spell of 3/16 in four overs whereas Mitchell Starc had a night to forget conceding 60 runs for no wickets.
Mitchell Marsh claimed the Player of the Final award for his matchwinning power-packed knock under pressure on the grandest night.
David Warner has been adjudged as the Player of the Tournament for his consistent batting display throughout the tournament - second-highest run-scorer with 289 runs in 7 matches averaging 48.16 runs at a scoring rate of 146.70.
