Finally, after six attempts Australia became the T20 champions in the 7th World Cup last week in Dubai.Chasing a competitive target of 173 in the final, Mitchell Marsh made it look like a walk in the park in the company of David Warner (53 off 38 balls), who also turned the wheels of fortune for himself and his team.

Before the tournament, Pakistan were not favourites to lift the cup, but after winning their first two games, against arch-rivals India and New Zealand, the Green-shirts became the top favourites to win the title. Pakistan were the only team to have won all five group matches.

In all T20 World Cups, Pakistan have won 19 out of 34 matches. They remained runners-up in the first edition of the T20 WC in 2007, won the tite in 2009, and qualified for the semis in 2010, 2012 & 2021.

New Zealand, long seen as the underdogs at ICC events, have in recent years established themselves as one of the top teams with remarkable consistency in all three formats.

They were runners-up to Australia in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015. They were finalists in the World Cup 2019, losing to England in the final. They beat India to claim the ICC Test Championship in June this year.

They are currently ranked No.1 in Tests and ODIs, and No.4 in T20Is.

Under Kane Williamson, they had not come into the 2021 T20 World Cup as favourites, but quickly established themselves, with wins against India in the group and England in the semi-final.

The most surprising early exit was that of India. They were one of the most favourites. But back-to-back defeats in the first two games, against Pakistan and New Zealand, closed the doors of the semi-finals.

It was very disappointing performance by India. Their body language wasn't great, fear of failure prominent on their faces.

India's campaign started with a 10-wicket loss to Pakistan. Rohit Sharma opened with KL Rahul against Pakistan. Both were dismissed early. Against New Zealand, Kishan opened with Rahul and Rohit batted at No. 3, but the change of batting order didn't help.

South Africa remained unfortunate, as they won four matches like England and Australia, but failed to qualify on run-rate basis.

Defending champions West Indies failed to repeat their last World Cup performance and faced four defeats. They won against Bangladesh only.

As the tournament was played on UAE's slow pitches, the scoring rate was low. Only once did we see a 200-plus total in 45 matches -- by India against Afghanistan.

The dew reduced the excitement of the tournament as 50% of the games were decided on coin. Win the toss, win the match wad the formula.

Out of the 23 matches played between full-member nations, 18 were won by the team chasing, and 15 by the team that won the toss.

In Dubai, the venue of the 2021 final, all the ten matches in the tournament played under lights were won by the teams batting second, including nine of them by the teams winning the toss. While, teams bowling first won 12 of 13 matches played at the Dubai International Stadium.

Tournament was played on UAE's slow pitches that's why the scoring rate was low. Only once was a 200-plus total scored in 45 matches by India against Afghanistan.

After winning the first T20 World Cup title, Australian skipper Aaron Finch accepted that "to be honest toss play a big factor".

Finch won six tosses in the tournament and Australia won all those matches while chasing. The only time they lost the toss - against England - they lost by eight wickets.

Australia chased 173 in the final against the Kiwis, it was the second highest successful chase in the T20I final.

Pakistan skipper Babar Azam was the most successful batsman of the tournament with 303 runs in six innings with a high average of 60.60.

Australian opener David Warner was behind him with 289 runs in seven matches, averaging 48.15. Warner surpassed Matthew Hayden's 265 runs in the first T20I World Cup in 2007.

Wicket-keeper batsman Mohammad Rizwan is on the top with 1033 runs in the calendar year. Babar Azam is behind him with 826 runs.

Wanindu Hasaranga remained the most successful bowler with 16 wickets in 8 matches at an average of 9.75. Australian spinner Adam Zampa was behind him with 13 wickets in 7 matches, averaging 12.07.

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