Dubai, United Arab Emirates – A vociferous near-capacity crowd witnessed Australia claim their maiden T20 World Cup, beating New Zealand by eight wickets in the final at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.

While the noise levels remained high throughout the final on Sunday evening – with fours, sixes, wickets and any act of entertainment applauded – the majority of those present in the stadium were neutrals.

Pakistan and India had failed to reach the final, much to the disappointment of those who had bought early tickets and the authorities who would have loved either of those teams to give the finances a boost.

Members of the Barmy Army and the Stani Army, followers of the two losing semi-finalists England and Pakistan, made an appearance while the Bharat Army seemed to have lost a lot of strength in numbers given India’s failure to reach the knockout stage.

Disappointed fans were selling their tickets outside the stadium for as low as a quarter of the purchase price. Some, who had made bulk purchases hoping to cash in on the Asian giants’ form, were also left out of pocket with demand falling drastically as soon as Pakistan were stunned by Australia in the semi-final.