Winning the T20 WC trophy is the dream of every cricket crazy country. However, not all countries have been able to do it. There have been instances of a team dominating an entire tournament, only to end up losing in the knockout round.
On the other side, the format of the T20 WC has been such that even though a team did not win any matches in the group stage, it ended up becoming the champions. In fact, it has happened twice. Here’s a list of those two teams.
1. England won T20 WC trophy in 2010 without winning any group stage match
West Indies hosted the T20 World Cup for the first time in the year 2010. India and Pakistan were the two teams that won the first two titles. The third trophy went to England, which was their first-ever major ICC title win.
Interestingly though, England could have been eliminated in the group stage only. They lost to West Indies by eight runs and then in the match against Ireland, England only managed 120/8 in 20 overs. Ireland were 14/1 after 3.3 overs when rain abandoned the game. England finished second and progressed to Super 8s with only one point. Then, they beat Pakistan, South Africa, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and Australia to lift the trophy.
2. West Indies
West Indies also won the T20 WC trophy in 2012 without any wins in the group stage. Incidentally, their match against Ireland was abandoned when the Irish team was 129/6 after 19 overs. Both West Indies and Ireland lost to Australia, but West Indies progressed because of their better net run rate.
The Men in Maroon then beat England and New Zealand in the Super 8s before wins against Australia and Sri Lanka in the semifinals to become the champions.
