T20 World Cup 2022 recap: India's semi-final heartbreak, England triumph and more

The 2022 T20 World Cup took place in Australia, between 16 October and 13 November. The tournament took place less than a year since the 2021 edition, that had taken place in Oman and the United Arab Emirates from 17 October to 14 November.

Australia came into the 2022 edition as defending champions, having beaten New Zealand by eight wickets in the 2021 final. India, who have not won the showpiece tournament since the inaugural edition in 2007, fell short of glory once again after suffering a heavy defeat to England in the semi-finals in Adelaide.

2024 T20 World Cup | A guide to venues in West Indies and USA

We now take a look at everything — From teams to format and more:

Format

Much like the 2021 edition, the 2022 edition featured a total of 16 teams and 45 matches were played. A total of 16 teams took part in the tournament, with the top eight teams as per the ICC T20I rankings on 15 November, 2021, qualifying directly for the Super 12 stage. Australia had secured automatic qualification as hosts.

These teams were — India, Pakistan, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Bangladesh, England and Afghanistan. The other four team to join them from the preliminary round were Ireland, Sri Lanka (Group 1) and Netherlands and Zimbabwe (Group 2). Sri Lanka and Netherlands were the top two teams of Group A in the preliminary round whereas Netherlands and Zimbabwe were top two in Group B.

T20 World Cup 2022 Super 12 groups were as follows:

Group 1: Australia, New Zealand, England, Sri Lanka, Ireland, Afghanistan

Group 2: India, Pakistan, South Africa, Bangladesh, Netherlands, Zimbabwe

The top two teams from each group of the Super 12 stage then qualified for the semi-finals.

Preliminary group stage

The teams who finished in places from ninth to 12th in the 2021 edition (As per ICC rankings) took part in the preliminary group stage. These teams were joined by top four teams from the ICC Global Qualifiers, who were Netherlands, Ireland, UAE and Zimbabwe.

The groups for the preliminary round were as follows:

Group A: Namibia, Netherlands, Sri Lanka, UAE

Group B: Ireland, Scotland, West Indies, Zimbabwe

Sri Lanka were group winners in Group A, having won two of their three matches to finish with four points. Netherlands, who also finished with four points were in second place and only the NRR could separate the two sides. Sri Lanka went onto join Group 1 in Super 12 whereas Netherlands were a part of Group 2.

Sri Lanka had begun with a shock defeat to Namibia before bouncing back to defeat UAE and Netherlands.

From Group B, Zimbabwe (1st) and Ireland (2nd) qualified in similar fashion with four points each, and joined Group 1 and Group 2 respectively in the Super 12 stage.

Super 12 stage

In the Super 12 stage, India came out on top in all but just one match — A five-wicket defeat to South Africa in Perth. The Men in Blue, under Rohit Sharma, began with a four-wicket win over Pakistan, avenging for the heavy defeat in the 2021 edition of the tournament. It was that match where Virat Kohli scored an unbeaten 82 in Melbourne, to take India to victory from the verge of defeat.

They then followed it up with a clinical 56-run win over Netherlands in Sydney. Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav all scored fifties to guide India to 179/2 after they opted to bat. In the Netherlands’ reply, it was a super effort from the bowlers led by Bhuvneshwar Kumar as they restricted the Dutch to 123/9.

In their defeat to South Africa that followed, Suryakumar Yadav, who scored another fifty, was the lone fighter as India were restricted to 133/9. And despite an initial setback from the Proteas in the chase, Aiden Markram (52) and David Miller (59) ensured that they crossed the finish line with two balls to spare.

The then defending champions Australia, however, missed out on semi-finals narrowly, after finishing third in Group 1 with seven points. In Group 1, South Africa (third place, five points), suffered a similar fate.

New Zealand and England qualified for the semi-finals from Group 1 as winners and runners-up, whereas from Group 2, India returned to the knockouts after missing out in 2021, and finished as group winners, with Pakistan in second place.

Semi-finals

New Zealand played Pakistan in the first semi-final in Sydney on 9 November. The Black Caps won the toss and opted to bat, but a total of 152/4 was never going to be enough. Daryl Mitchell (53*) and Kane Williamson (46) performed well under pressure as they forged 68 runs for the fourth wicket.

In Pakistan’s reply, Mohammad Rizwan (57), Babar Azam (53) and Mohammad Harris (30) made light work of the chase as they clinched a seven-wicket win to reach their first T20 World Cup final since 2009.

India took on England in the second semi-final in Adelaide on 10 November. India were considered as favourites against England, who had only won the ODI World Cup three years earlier. The Jos Buttler-led side won the toss and opted to field, and despite proving a bit expensive, Chris Jordan (3/43), was the pick of the bowlers as India managed to post just 168/6 on the board with fifties from Virat Kohli and Hardik Pandya.

England’s chase was completely one sided. The likes of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, R Ashwin and Hardik Pandya were taken to the cleaners as Jos Buttler (80*) and Alex Hales (86*) completed a 10-wicket demolition of the Indian team, chasing the total in 16 overs to make the final of the T20 World Cup.

The Final

England took on Pakistan in the final of the 2022 T20 World Cup at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). Both the teams had won an edition of the tournament previously, so this was an opportunity to add to their trophy cabinet.

England won the toss and asked Pakistan to bat first. The decision to do so did wonders as they never allowed much of the Pakistan batters to settle down and call the big shots. Sam Curran (3/12) was the pick of the bowlers whereas Babar Azam (32) led an early fightback for Pakistan. Azam, however, was dismissed in the 12th over after he was caught and bowled by Adil Rashid.

Then there was Shan Masood (38), who had forged 38 runs with Babar for the third wicket. And just when Masood and Shadab Khan were looking to maybe put Pakistan back on track, Curran struck in the 17th over after Masood holed out to Liam Livingstone at midwicket.

Pakistan were restricted to 137/8, but England’s chase was not easy either.

England lost Alex Hales, Phil Salt and Jos Buttler in the powerplay to be restricted to 49/3, but Ben Stokes (52*) made sure he remained till the end, forging crucial stands with Harry Brook and Moeen Ali to take England to a second T20 World Cup title. England won by five wickets with an over to spare, and thus became the first team to simultaneously hold the ODI and T20 World Cup titles. It was a bittersweet ending for Pakistan, and more so Shaheen Afridi, who while bowling midway suffered a knee injury and could not bowl anymore in that contest.