13 years ago, one queer spell in the death overs of the inaugural T20 World Cup final won India the crown. Joginder Sharma perhaps defined why T20 qualifies as a completely different ball game on that day. Since then, we have seen some outrageous spells in T20 World Cups.
Here's a look at three of the best.
Ajantha Mendis - 6/8 vs Zimbabwe (2012)
Ajantha Mendis bettered his own record to register the best ever T20I figures in the 2012 T20 World Cup game against Zimbabwe. The Sri Lankan mystery spinner had 183 runs to defend and wrecked Zimbabwe with a rip-roaring spell of six-for-eight.
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Mendis broke the opening stand in the last over of powerplay and sent back Brendan Taylor on the next ball to take his second wicket. By the end of the 11th over, he had three more. The sixth was completed as he dismissed Elton Chigumbura as Zimbabwe lost all of their first six wickets to deadly Mendis.
Mustafizur Rahman - 5/22 vs New Zealand (2016)
The 2016 World Cup in India saw some exciting spells from pacers and spinners alike. At Kolkata, Mustafizur Rahman gave Bangladesh a fighting chance as he snared a five-for-22 to bowl New Zealand out for 145. Mustafizur dismissed Henry Nicholls and Kane Williamson, the first two wickets to fall, and later returned to clean up New Zealand's lower middle-order and finish with a five-wicket haul.
However, Bangladesh messed up the run-chase and were bowled out for 70 in pursuit of the target.
Mitchell Santner - 4/11 vs India (2016)
The opening game of the 2016 T20 World Cup was a humdinger between India and New Zealand at Nagpur. With just 126 on board, the Kiwis seemed well on course for a heavy defeat.
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However, on a slow Nagpur track, Mitchell Santner and Ish Sodhi spun a web around the Indians. Santner sent back Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina in the same over (the third over of the innings) to cripple India's start. Later as Hardik Pandya and MS Dhoni looked to resurrect the innings, the left-arm spinner sent back Pandya. He later dismissed Dhoni too to finish with spectacular figures of 4 for 11 in his spell.
Feature image courtesy: AFP / Money Sharma
