England Ride On Ben Stokes And Sam Curran's Brilliance To Win 2nd T20 World Cup Title, Beat Pakistan By 5 Wickets In Final
NDTV
Ben Stokes slammed an unbeaten fifty to take the team home after Sam Curran's brilliance with the ball had restricted Pakistan to a below-par total of 137 runs.
England were crowned champions of the 2022 ICC T20 World Cup on Sunday as they defeated Pakistan by 5 wickets in what eventually turned out to be a comprehensive victory. This is England's second T20 World Cup win, 12 years after Paul Collingwood's team had beaten Australia to win the first ICC title for the 'Three Lions'in 2010. Ben Stokes slammed an unbeaten fifty to take the team home after Sam Curran's brilliance with the ball had restricted Pakistan to a below-par total of 137 runs. England are now the first team ever to hold the 50-over World Cup and the T20 World Cup titles together.
Pakistan needed a large-hearted bowling performance to stay in the match they did just that.
Shaheen Shah Afridi produced a peach of a delivery to castle England's semi-final star Alex Hales for a score of 1 in the very first over of the chase to give Pakistan the start they needed after an unimpressive show with the bat.
Skipper Jos Buttler fought fire with fire as he produced a bunch of handsome strokes to get England going in the powerplay. Phil Salt's short stay in the middle produced two boundaries but he became Haris Rauf's first victim, handing an easy catch to Iftikhar at mid-wicket as the 'Three Lions' slumped to 32/2. A visibly pumped-up Rauf returned to pick up the big wicket of Buttler (26) as a sea of green erupted in the colosseum-esque Melbourne Cricket Ground.
At 45/3 with the powerplay still on, Pakistan had fought their way back into the match and a lot now rested on the broad shoulders of England's 2019 World Cup hero Ben Stokes.