ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2020, Standout team, biggest moment, best team – Australia, Shafali Verma, Thailand, and reserve days at ICC events

It’s perhaps too soon to say this, but the men’s T20 World Cup later this year will have a lot to do to match up to the women’s edition that concluded on 8 March. By the end of it, it certainly seemed as though several plateaus had been broken, several barriers broken down, and that society itself had taken a step towards being more open and equal. Here are the talking points from a seminal tournament.

Standout team – Australia

At the outset, it might seem Australia only made it to the final due to several things going their way – that their semi-final against South Africa went ahead despite rain, and that South Africa chose that day to play poorly. However, look deeper, and it’s evident they were under severe pressure to make the final in the first place. The whole tournament, the whole Fill The MCG campaign, was hugely dependent on the home side making the final, and that’s a level of pressure no other team had to contend with. It affected Australia, in the tournament opener when they lost to India, and generally in the way they played in the event. However, once they made the final, it seemed as though they a release – nothing could stop them after that, let alone an India side that seemed intimidated by the occasion.

Standout player – Shafali Verma

Verma may have ended the World Cup in tears. Her dropped catch of Alyssa Healy was costly, to say the least, and her one failure came in the final when India desperately needed her to fire. However, the fact remains that she’s the biggest positive to come out of the campaign for India, and indeed, women’s cricket. She stormed to the top of the batters’ rankings during the tournament thanks to her gung-ho hitting, and her youthful exuberance captured the imagination of the world. She is a huge prospect, and could set the women’s game alight over the next two decades – she is just 16. What a talent. What a prospect.

Standout moment – Everything Thailand did

Thailand weren’t expected to win a match this tournament, and they didn’t. But they certainly won a lot of hearts. This was a side playing its first ever cricket world cup, having come through the qualifiers the hard way, and is a real success story of cricket going global. They were open to learning, open to taking in as much as possible, and handed gifts to all opposition teams during the toss. They even showed they were quick learners, putting up their highest T20I total of 150/3 against Pakistan, but were denied a chance to cause a seismic upset when rain intervened to force the abandonment of the match. In true Thailand fashion, they smiled it off, engaging in a dance-off during the rain break. A truly lovable side.

Room for improvement – Reserve days

The one big sour spot in the tournament came during the semi-finals in Sydney. Significant rain led to the washout of the first semi-final between India and England, meaning the latter was eliminated without bowling a ball. It led to a gigantic uproar, in which the ICC came in for much flak for failing to factor in reserve days for the semi-finals of a major tournament. The debate is still going on, with England feeling a significant sense of injustice. However, the fact remains that organising reserve days is a massive logistical challenge, and the teams did agree to the playing conditions before play. In the future, instead of raising these points after the damage is done, teams will do well to take it up with the authorities before signing on the agreement.

Standout quote

“I probably can’t share what was said to me on the way off the field, but I literally just said to the group, ‘we’re right under their skin here, the way they reacted when I got out’”

• Alyssa Healy on how her 39-ball 75 had derailed India’s focus in the finals.