Ranking the top 3 most exciting T20 World Cup finals ft. 2016
India meet South Africa in the final of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup at the Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados on Saturday, June 29. This is a highly anticipated game between the two teams.
India have already won the title once, in its inaugural edition in 2007, whereas the Proteas have not been able to get their hands on any ICC trophy yet despite putting in splendid performances year after year.
While it will be a chance for the Indians to reclaim the title they won in 2007 and came close to emulating in 2014, the South Africans will be on the verge of history while trying to pick up a victory here.
A lot depends on the style of play about to be exhibited by the two teams here, and one expects attacking cricket to be on the show given that both India and South Africa possess aggressive mindsets. This is bound to be an exciting final.
In this listicle, we rank the top three most exciting T20 World Cup finals in the past:
#3 2012
The final of the 2012 World T20 (as the T20 World Cup was known back then) will go down as being one of the most interesting ever played. It comes third on this list of ours.
Played between hosts Sri Lanka and the West Indies at the R Premadasa Stadium in the suburbs of Colombo, this gave the latter their first ICC World Cup title since 1979.
The Windies batted first to put up only a modest total of 137-6 on the board; none of their batters came to the party save old warhorse Marlon Samuels, who stepped up with a 56-ball 78.
Ajantha Mendis picked up 4-12 to give the Lankans a hefty advantage but unfortunately, their batters came a cropper against a disciplined Windies bowling lineup.
Sunil Narine spun a web across the Lankan batters and picked up 3-9 in just 3.4 overs to bowl the home team out for a mere 101 in 18.4 overs and hand the men from the Caribbean the title.
#2 2007
Pakistan appeared to be in cruise control while chasing down a modest 158 India had set for them in the final of the 2007 World T20 at the Wanderers in Johannesburg before imploding spectacularly only like they could.
Misbah-ul-Haq almost touched what heroes feel at the end of victorious campaigns only to fall prey to a petty scoop shot off an unlikely Joginder Sharma to the hands of an unsuspecting S Sreesanth at short fine leg.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni, having just been anointed the captain of the India T20I team in the absence of other seniors, was hoisted upon the shoulders of his teammates as India celebrated well into the night.
That decision of Dhoni's to give the final over of this game to Joginder despite the experienced Harbhajan Singh having an over up his sleeve is talked about as one of the greatest in the history of cricket.
Across the border at Attari and Wagah, Misbah's choice of shot when practically the world was at his feet is also dissected, albeit with just a tad of fury, disappointment and disbelief.
#1 2016
Another final featuring the West Indies, this time played against England at the historic Eden Gardens in Kolkata in the 2016 edition of the World T20, comes on this list.
England batted first in this game and put up a more than decent total of 155-9 in 20 overs thanks to top knocks from Joe Root (54) and Jos Buttler (36).
Dwayne Bravo and Carlos Brathwaite picked up three wickets apiece while leg-spinner Samuel Badree chipped in with two wickets of his own.
In response, the Windies chased this target down in the most dramatic of fashions, with Brathwaite tearing into Ben Stokes in the final over.
The men from the Caribbean needed 19 runs off the last over of the game to pull off an improbable victory, but Brathwaite did the unthinkable by hitting four sixes in a row off the poor English all-rounder.
This has to go down as one of the best finals ever played in an ICC tournament across all formats.