In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Australia was a formidable opponent under the shrewd leadership of Steve Waugh. Their victory in the 1999 ODI World Cup was a clear indication of Waugh’s masterful leadership.
Many observers, however, were surprised by the outcome of the match between Australia and Pakistan. This was partially caused by the fact that Australia narrowly defeated South Africa while Pakistan thrashed New Zealand by a wide margin in the semifinals.
However, Australia won their second championship, denying Pakistan’s Wasim Akram the opportunity to win a second championship. As the Pakistanis were unaware of the Australian bowlers’ onslaught, the Australians’ dominance in the final was clean. When Pakistan batted first, they were skittled out for a pitiful 132 and had their backs to the wall the entire game.
Australia won the game by 8 wickets
Shane Warne, a legendary leg-spinner, spearheaded the bowling attack by confusing four Pakistani batters by spinning a web. Pakistan’s back was shattered, and there was no escape. Ijaz Ahmed led the way for them with 22 runs, and even the extra runs from wides and byes in that innings were higher than any Pakistani batter had previously scored.
Glenn McGrath took two wickets, and the Australian seamers also had perfect line and length. But Shane Warne’s cunning spin was the standout aspect of their bowling. The Australians had no trouble exceeding the goal of 133 and did so without many setbacks. The total was too low for the Pakistani bowlers to hold, therefore it was inevitable.
The Australian openers got off to a quick start and put up 75 runs in the first stand. With a quickfire 54 (36) runs, Adam Gilchrist got the highest score and was forced to leave off Saqlain Mushtaq’s bowling. Even though Ricky Ponting had to leave the pitch after reaching 24 runs, these tiny hiccups didn’t seem to hurt the Australians too much.
Australia eventually prevailed by 8 wickets, but that victory was just the beginning of their quest to become the first team in history to win the World Cup three times in history!