The two unlikeliest of the teams of the tournament have qualified for the final of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021, Australia and New Zealand. No one gave Australia a chance, because they were coming with poor form, having lost five T20 series and New Zealand are just there for everyone to tag them underdogs/dark horses before every tournament, only to be proven wrong, again and again.
New Zealand beat probably the best team of the competition, England in a well-fought semi-final where Daryl Mitchell carried his bat through while Jimmy Neesham played the game-changing knock. On the other hand, for Australia, Adam Zampa’s four overs helped them keep Pakistan to 176 and they were down and out at 96/5 needing 81 runs off 46 balls. However, Matthew Wade and Marcus Stoinis finished the game with one over to spare in a miraculous finish.
The last time these two sides met in the knockouts of an ICC event, Australia beat New Zealand both times and the Blackcaps would be wanting to end the streak in their first-ever T20 World Cup final.
Head-to-head: 14 games; AUS – 9, NZ – 5
Australia and New Zealand have faced each other 14 times in the T20Is since 2005, out of which only one game has been in the T20 World Cups when the latter won by eight runs in the 2016 edition. Overall in 14 matches, the men in yellow have had the upper hand, winning 9 games while the Blackcaps have won five matches.
The last time these two sides met was earlier this year in March, as part of the five-match series played in New Zealand. The hosts won the first two games and Australia came back strongly with back-to-back wins taking the series to the decider in Wellington. Led by Ish Sodhi and Tim Southee, New Zealand restricted Australia to just 142 runs and later chased it down comfortably with 27 balls to spare on the back of Martin Guptill’s exceptional knock of 71 runs off just 46 balls as the hosts won the series 3-2.
Martin Guptill leads the most runs list
New Zealand opener Martin Guptill is the leading run-scorer in NZ vs AUS games with 435 runs to his name, followed by Australia skipper Aaron Finch with 251 runs. Former Blackcaps skipper Brendon McCullum is third on the list with 228 runs to his name in T20Is against Australia, while star all-rounder Glenn Maxwell follows him with 206 runs.
Ish Sodhi is the leading wicket-taker
New Zealand leg-spinner Ish Sodhi is the leading wicket-taker in NZ vs AUS T20 games with 16 scalps in nine matches. Australia all-rounder Ashton Agar is second on the list with 13 wickets while pacer Kane Richardson has taken 11 wickets against New Zealand in T20Is and is third on the list. Kiwi pacer Trent Boult is fourth, with 10 wickets in eight games.
