Fans must be reliving some of the most spectacular innings in history as the T20 World Cup 2022 approaches in a little more than three months. From Yuvraj’s six consecutive sixes against Stuart Broad of England in 2007 to Mitchell Marsh’s game-winning unbeaten 77 against New Zealand in the finals the previous year, this list can go on and on.
In 2007, India overcame Pakistan to win the first T20 World Cup. They are placed first in the ICC T20I teams rankings and are the current favorites to win the 2019 T20 World Cup. In October and November, Australia will host the T20 World Cup. The current champion, Australia, will be confident in retaining the trophy at home, but England and Pakistan would likely wager heavily on their prospects of doing so.
There have been multiple remarkable match-winning innings in the T20 World Cup’s history.
Yuvraj Singh’s 58 runs in 16 balls (2007)
The Indian batsman scored 58 runs off just 16 balls against England in the 2007 T20 World Cup, one of the finest innings of his career. In T20 cricket, Yuvraj Singh set a global record by reaching 50 in just 12 balls. However, Yuvraj’s string of six straight sixes against Stuart Broad was the highlight of that inning.
Yuvraj was upset after England’s top all-rounder Andrew Flintoff mocked him at the conclusion of his over, and he blasted six sixes in the subsequent over.
The fact that this occurred for the first time in T20I cricket made it unimaginable for the spectators. Only Herschelle Gibbs of South Africa has hit six sixes in international cricket prior to Yuvraj.
Yuvraj was outstanding the entire competition, putting on consistently strong performances. In the semifinal match against Australia, he played another powerful knock. He scored 148 runs overall for the World Cup, including two brilliant and noteworthy half-centuries.
Michael Hussey’s 60 runs in 24 balls (2010)
Former Australian hitter Michael Hussey had a number of memorable innings in every format of the game, including an uninterrupted 116-run performance against Kings XI Punjab in 2008. But his unbroken 60 runs off just 24 balls against Pakistan at Gros Islet during the 2010 T20 World Cup will live on in cricket legend.
In the semi-final, Pakistan, which had advanced to the finals of the previous two tournaments and won the 2009 T20 World Cup, scored 191 runs while batting first. With less than three over left, Australia was in trouble at 144/7, and Hussey, who was batting at number seven, batted the entire innings.
With one ball left, he led his team into the championship match after hitting six sixes, three of which came against Saeed Ajmal in the twentieth over. He was referred to as Mr. Cricket frequently displaying his adaptability by taking on various responsibilities and positions. When he made his debut, he was 28 years old, but he still managed to score more than 12000 runs abroad.
Chris Gayle’s 117 runs in 57 balls (2007)
A legendary West Indian batsman made a century against South Africa in the 2007 T20 World Cup opener. He started the competition by setting and shattering a couple of world records. Additionally, this was the first-ever T20I century. Chris Gayle hit 117 runs at a strike rate of 205.26 off just 57 balls, and 88 of those runs were all fours and sixes.
West Indies scored 205 in 20 overs while they were batting first, but South Africa shocked everyone by easily chasing down the massive total with eight wickets and 14 balls still to spare. Herschelle Gibbs, the opener, struck an undefeated 90, and Justin Kemp, off just 22 balls, added 46. Gayle, though, received the Player of the Match award.
Joe Root’s 83 runs in 44 balls (2016)
Joe Root, who is known for frequently scoring large runs in Test cricket, had one of his most memorable T20 World Cup performances in India in 2016. In the group stage match against South Africa at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium, he scored 83 runs off just 44 balls.
After batting first, Quinton de Kock, Hashim Amla, and JP Duminy all scored fifty runs to lead the Proteas to a sizable total of 229/4. England scored 44 runs in the first two overs of the huge chase. Despite continuing to lose wickets, Root’s 83-run innings helped the Three Lions secure a two-wicket victory with two balls remaining.
Root is the top-ranked Test hitter according to the ICC, and he recently passed the 10000-run mark with the aid of 28 hundred. His statistics in white-ball cricket are outstanding, with 893 runs at an average of 35.7 in T20Is and 6109 runs at an average of 51.3 in ODIs. He hasn’t played as much in the game’s shortest format lately since he is concentrating on red-ball cricket.
Herschelle Gibbs’s 90 runs in 55 balls (2007)
Herschelle Gibbs, a former South African opener, had two outstanding innings in his career, both of which occurred in 2007.
When he did it against the Netherlands in the 2007 ODI World Cup, he made cricket history as the first player to hit six sixes in a single over.
But in the 2007 T20 World Cup opener, he played more significant innings for South Africa by scoring an undefeated 90 runs.
After Chris Gayle’s century storm at the Wanderers, West Indies set up a sizable total of 205 runs while batting first. Gayle opened the inaugural T20 World Cup with the first-ever T20I century. However, Gibbs, who had just struck six sixes in the ODI World Cup, led the Proteas to an unforgettable victory by smashing an unbroken 90 runs off just 55 balls at a strike rate of 163.63.
With 14 balls left, Gibbs’ contribution was sufficient for the hosts to secure a comfortable victory by eight wickets. There were several memorable innings at the inaugural T20 World Cup, but this one will go down in history.
Virat Kohli’s 72 runs in 44 balls (2014)
In his stellar career thus far, Virat Kohli has played a number of irreplaceable shots in every format and at every stage. Although he still has plenty of games left, it is reasonable to assume that his match-winning performance against South Africa in 2014 will stand as his best T20 World Cup innings.
He helped India advance to the T20 World Cup 2014 finals in Bangladesh with an unbeaten 72 off just 44 balls. After choosing to bat first, South Africa got 172 runs thanks to Faf du Plessis’ fifty and JP Duminy’s unbroken 45-run effort. On the other hand, the Indian batting team did a great job and finished the score with six wickets and five balls left.
Kohli started his inning by hitting only ones and twos with the first 17 balls. He got more than half of his runs on just three “dot balls,” which are balls that don’t go out of the park.
Later, Kohli talked about how singles are important in T20I cricket, which has helped him keep a run average of about 50. Kohli said that this was his favorite T20I knock because it helped India get to the World Cup finals in 2014.
He isn’t playing well right now, and his last hundred for his country was in 2019. But he only needs one big game to get back to his usual level and give us more things to remember in the near future.
Disclaimer: The insights expressed in this article are those of the author. This article was not written or edited by Empireweekly.com; it was published on July 12, 2022.