Winning the Toss and chasing will be in the minds of both Aaron Finch and Kane Williamson when they meet up in the finals for tomorrow’s T20 World Cup finals at the ring of fire at the Iconic Dubai Cricket Stadium. In the last 17 matches played at the Dubai Cricket Stadium, 16 matches have been won by the team chasing and going by the semi-final which was played between Pakistan and Australia on Thursday, both captains would definitely like to bat second if they win the toss.
Having said that it’s going to be a freshly laid out pitch for the finals and should be good for batting and If the team batting first can put on a score of 180 it can be defended as long as they make sure to capitalize on every chance they get. Pakistan had Australia on the mat at 96/5 in 12 overs but did not grab the run out chances and Hassan Ali dropping Mathew Wade in the 19th over cost Pakistan dearly.
Chennai Super Kings were put in to bat by Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL finals and CSK put up 192 batting first and managed to defend it in spite of KKR getting off to a good start but to maintain the run rate of nine per over in a pressure game is not easy and both teams will be aware of the fact that if you win the toss it does not guarantee you a win if the opposition puts on a healthy score of 180 plus. Both teams have quality spinners with New Zealand having Ish Sodhi and Mitchell Santner and Australia having the likes of Adam Zampa and Glenn Maxwell and with the boundaries being big in Dubai, all four spinners will come in to play as you saw in both the semifinals where the likes of Liam Livingstone, Adam Zampa and Shadab Khan having good games with the ball.
Both the captains would not only like to win the toss but also lead from the front as neither captain has had a great tournament with Kane Williamson scoring just 131 and Aaron Finch only 119 runs. Come the big final tomorrow it’s going to test the nerves of both captains specially Kane Williamson whose team has not won a knock out game against Australia since 1981 and would like to correct that stats and his hands on the coveted ICC 20 trophy on Sunday night.
The odds favor Australia but count New Zealand out on your peril, whosever wins we shall have a new T20 World Cup Champion this year.
