Asia

T20 World Cup Final: Kane Williamson gives wings to Kiwis, match unbelievable record

November 14, 2021
Henry Club

Kane WilliamsonThe New Zealand skipper gave the Kiwis a much-needed boost with his explosive 85 against Australia in the T20 World Cup final on Sunday. He also became the first batsman to score the fastest fifty in the T20 World Cup final as he helped his team recover from a slow start. Williamson scored 85 runs in just 48 balls with the help of 10 fours and 3 sixes. The first 18 runs came off 19 balls and the next 67 runs came off 29 balls.

The Blackcaps’ innings progressed slowly after losing the quick wicket of Daryl Mitchell, with New Zealand registering their lowest powerplay score of 32/1 in the tournament. After 10 overs, New Zealand were still 57/2 which is not an ideal situation considering the conditions.

However, everything changed in the 16th over when Williamson suddenly threw Mitchell Starc into hell. There were early signs of an impending storm as Williamson was hitting boundaries here and there but Starc’s over gave way to a tsunami of runs.

In the first two balls, Williamson rode his luck, slashing and splicing the ball, luckily escaping any Australian fielder and reaching the boundary rope.

The third ball hit a six and the last two balls were beautifully bowled for back to back fours. That over ultimately yielded 22 runs, the most runs in an over in a T20 World Cup final so far.

Williamson also became the joint highest scorer in a T20 World Cup final. The second man to do so was West Indies’ Marlon Samuels vs. England 85* in Kolkata in 2016. Williamson has also scored half-centuries in the last 3 innings of ICC finals.

And to think, the innings was almost over early when he was dropped for 17 near the boundary line. What happened to the ball after that? It crosses over and crosses the boundary ropes for a boundary. Yes, it was that kind of day.

Invited to bat, New Zealand played a challenging innings of 172 for four against Australia in the T20 World Cup title match here on Sunday.

Captain Kane Williamson top-scored for the Blackcaps with 85 while opener Martin Guptill contributed 28 runs.

Fast bowler Josh Hazlewood (3/16) took three out of four wickets while leg-spinner adam zampa (1/26) Responsible for a batsman.

Brief Scores: New Zealand: 172 for 4 in 20 overs. (K Williamson 85, J Hazlewood 3/16, A Zampa 1/26) v Australia.

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