NEWS
Follow UsA trophy that has eluded Australia since 2007, the T20 World Cup was a really important puzzle to the Australian success in white-ball format. Coming into the tournament, they were written off, owing to their key players being out of form and not quite having the right tools to succeed.
However, Adam Zampa’s form with the ball has certainly kept the ball rolling for the Men in Yellow, with the leg-spinner picking up 13 crucial wickets, at just 12.07, conceding only 5.81 RPO through the tournament. Australian pacer Mitchell Starc hailed the leg-spinner as Australia’s best white-ball bowler in the last two years.
“It's not been an ideal lead up. But this is the closest the guys were and it has shown in the way we played our cricket. Different guys in different games and the closeness with the guys has taken us through. Zampa has been the best bowler by far in white ball over the last two years. We know how to bowl around him. The bowling group just know our roles a lot clearer,” Starc said.
On the other hand, Wade stated that the maiden T20 World Cup win was a huge moment for the team and added that it feels really special.
"It's huge. Felt like a lot of people wrote us off but we spoke about being the first team to do this for Australia and it feels really special,” Matthew Wade said.
“More than my innings (against Pakistan), the partnership (with Stoinis) will stand out. We didn't realize we scored as many runs as we did. Today we were confident that if the boys could get off to a good start we can do this. Thankfully Mitch (Marsh), Davey and Maxi did it,” he added.
All-rounder Marcus Stoinis reckoned that the team’s incredible closeness as a group was a biggest differentiator.
"We love each other, I'm so proud of this team. You won't find bigger supporters of Mitch Marsh than us and his family,” said Stoinis.
Pat Cummins, who played a crucial part in Australia’s win in the semi-final insisted that playing IPL was a great learning curve for the Australian bowlers. Cummins pointed out that Josh Hazlewood’s lengths and adaptability was because of his involvement in the tournament.
“Pretty pumped. Once we go back home it will sink in. A lot of support back home, they've gotten up at 1am. It's a good thing to play some IPL here. Even Hazlewood was able to adapt quickly because of that,” Cummins added.