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The history will repeat itself, much like the 2016 T20 World Cup final, the 2021 T20 world Cup final will also witness the rivalry of the old friends. In 2016, it was the duo of West Indies’ Carlos Brathwaite and England’s Chris Jordan who faced each other in the final as rivals. While, in 2021 edition, two friends on opposite side of the border, Australia’s Marcus Stoinis and New Zealand’s Daryl Mitchell will go up against each other.
In 2009, Mitchell was a teammate of Stoinis and present Australia coach Justin Langer for Scarborough but now after 12 years, Langer will watch their old teammates facing each other from the dugout.
After their early days, Stoinis moved to Melbourne to explore more opportunities while Mitchell went back to New Zealand in 2011 to play for Northern Districts. Mitchell's former teammate Clint Heron revealed how far the duo of Stoinis-Mitchell came after their Scarborough days.
“Those two guys, Stoinis and Mitchell, were so similar that every stone that was left, they turned it to see what was underneath and how they could get better. The amount that Stoin(Stoinis) has done in the background and the different people that he's got to help him in his game, to get to where he is, the fitness, etc, is incredible." That's where those two guys, Stoinis and Mitchell, were so similar that every stone that was left, they turned it to see what was underneath and how they could get better," Heron told ESPNcricinfo.
Both Mitchell and Stoinis were instrumental in the semi-final triumph of their respective sides. In the first semi-final against Pakistan, Mitchell’s gritty unbeaten knock of 72 off 47 balls helped the BlackCaps to chase down the challenging total of 166 whereas Stoinis' unbeaten partnership of 81 with their wicketkeeper-batter, Matthew Wade was the main reason why the Aussies will play their second T20 World Cup final.
