5 min readUpdated: Mar 6, 2026 05:06 PM IST As Sunday’s T20 World Cup final, where New Zealand take on hosts and pre-tournament favourites India, inevitably triggers all sorts of David vs Goliath comparisons, it may be worth remembering a defining day in Melbourne, 11 years ago. They say Australian hearts only bleed for their cricket team when they are playing in white flannels. But go back and listen to the pop of the maximum-capacity MCG crowd when Mitchell Starc’s devilish yorker castled the stumps of Brendon McCullum in the first over of the 2015 World Cup final. It’s a moment that impacted the myth-making around both players involved. McCullum, as captain and opening batter, had set the attacking template that made New Zealand a pleasing crowd favourite in their home tournament. The hype around them had been enormous, especially after they won a nerve-wracking semifinal over South Africa. But Starc’s ball, full and moving in, among the first big-stage moments in the career of the game’s greatest left-arm pacer since Wasim Akram – blunted …