Top 5 Bowling Performances in the Men’s T20 World Cup

The dust and noise refuse to settle as celebrations from the double World Cup winners (Men and Women), West Indies, continues. Interestingly, contrary to expectations, this was a balanced World Cup, in that not all the pitches were batting friendly. There were some really good bowling performances on all tracks.

Mohammad Nabi of Afghanistan was the surprise table topper with 12 wickets, owing to the three extra games his team had to play in the qualifiers. If the qualifiers were excluded, Mitchell Santner of New Zealand emerges as the leading wicket-taker with 10 wickets in 5 games along with Ish Sodhi also of New Zealand and David Willey of England.

Here, we take a look though, at the best individual performances in this T20 World Cup with the ball that don't fade away, just like the Axe Signature line of body perfumes. The factors include number of wickets, economy, importance of the match, batting strength of the opponent and the track on which the bowling figures were registered.

Mustafizur Rahman, 4-0-22-5 v New Zealand, Kolkata

Mustafizur, the 20-year-old Bangladesh left arm fast medium bowler had a dream game against a powerful New Zealand batting line-up on a good Eden Gardens wicket. Returning figures of 5-22, Mustafizur ensured Bangladesh were chasing a sub-150 total although they fared really badly in the second innings with the bat.

Mustafizur picked up the openers at critical junctures before returning back at the depth and picking wickets off successive balls in the final over of the innings to register one of only two five wicket hauls at this World Cup. He managed to do this at an economy rate of 5.5 while bowling in the power-play and at the death and having just recovered from an injury in time for the match. Most of the wickets, unsurprisingly came off his slow cutters.

James Faulkner, 4-0-27-5 v Pakistan, Mohali

James Faulkner of Australia celebrates after taking the wicket of Sharjeel Khan.

On a batting friendly strip, Faulkner pulled off a dream spell wrecking Pakistan almost single-handedly in a close game. Batting first. Australia registered a massive 193. Pakistan began the chase well, but were pegged back by strikes from Faulkner who picked up settled top order batsmen in Khalid Latif and Sharjeel Khan.

He returned in the death to pick the wickets of Imad Wasim, Sarfraz Ahmed and Wahab Riaz, one in the 18th over and the latter two in the final over. Faulkner ensured that bad days for Shane Watson (0-27 in 2 overs) and Nathan Coulter-Nile (0-45 in 4 overs) with the ball didn’t push Australia towards a defeat as they staved off the Pakistani challenge and won by 20 runs.

Mitchell Santner, 4-0-11-4 v India, Nagpur

Mitchell Santner

He was the surprise package of the T20 World Cup. India were supposed to chase down a paltry target of 126 set by New Zealand with ease in the opening game. However that was not to be as Santner picked the wickets of Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni and Hardik Pandya to make sure the Indian batting order crumbled against spin on a turning track.

Santner’s slow left arm spin troubled batsmen right through the tournament, but this game was his best as he troubled the famed Indian batting known for its reasonably good skills against high quality spin. He was well supported by Ish Sodhi, who picked up three wickets himself.

David Willey, 4-0-20-3 v West Indies, Kolkata

David Willey nearly pulled of a great win for England in the final.

David Willey was England’s best bowler of the night and almost bowled his team to World Cup glory in a high pressure final at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. Defending just 155, England found great inspiration in Willey’s bowling, who picked the wickets of Lendl Simmons, Andre Russell and Darren Sammy, the second and third wickets almost knocking West Indies off the chase.

More importantly, his tight bowling really pushed West Indies to the edge as they faced a near mountain in the last couple of overs. West Indies only managed to get out of jail thanks to Brathwaite’s pyrotechnics in the final over. The left arm pace bowler kept his cool and mixed his lengths up on a track that was good for batting. There were some dew related problems to handle too, making Willey’s job tougher. Sadly, one of the best spells of this World Cup ended up on the losing side.

Chris Jordan, 4-0-28-4 v Sri Lanka, Delhi

Chris Jordan of England celebrates dismissing Dinesh Chandimal.

Jordan’s figures just edge out Samuel Badree’s 3-12 against Sri Lanka. Chasing 171, Sri Lanka stumbled at the Feroz Shah Kotla in the chase being reduced to 15 for four in the third over. Jordan bowling the second over, picked up Dinesh Chandimal’s wicket. However, Sri Lanka consolidated under Angelo Mathews who played a great hand of 73 to take his team to the cusp of victory, partnering Kapugedera and then Thisara Perera.

Jordan returned in the depth and used his strength of bowling yorkers to squeeze Sri Lanka out. He also picked up the wickets of Perera and Shanaka in the 17th and 19th overs respectively to make sure Sri Lanka didn’t pull off the heist, a victory that could have seriously jeopardized England’s march to the semi-final. In fact, Sri Lanka needed just 17 off the last 10 balls when Jordan picked up Shanaka’s wicket and put the shackles on Mathews.