Stokes, Curran star as England beats Pakistan to win second ICC T20 World Cup

Ben Stokes and Sam Curran starred as England edged Pakistan by five wickets to win the Twenty20 Worl

In reply, England slumped to 49-3 in the sixth over as they struggled to get any momentum against a fiery pace attack, with boundaries hard to come by but Stokes (52 not out) and Moeen Ali (19) used their experience and cool heads to guide England to 138-5 with six balls to spare, climaxing a riveting tournament that spanned 45 games over nearly a month.

The game was billed as a showdown between Pakistan’s attack and England’s top order, and Shaheen Afridi bowled danger man Alex Hales in the first over of the run chase. But that only fired up Buttler who smashed two boundaries off Naseem Shah.

Phil Salt, playing in place of the injured Dawid Malan, didn’t last, making just 10 before pulling Haris Rauf to Iftikhar Ahmed.

The ball was swinging and seaming and the menacing Rauf claimed the key wicket of Buttler just as he was getting in, edging to wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan on 26 off 17 balls.

The runs dried up and Harry Brook needed treatment for a blow to his elbow but he soldiered on as they reached 77-3 at the halfway point of the innings, compared to Pakistan’s 68-2.

Brook came undone on 20 against the spin of Shadab Khan, holing out to Afridi as he tried to get the scoreboard moving. It came down to needing 41 runs off the final five overs. Stokes relieved the pressure with a four and a six off Ahmed and there was no stopping them with the England all-rounder hitting the winning runs.

The ruling BJP in Gujarat is grappling to pacify rebels in over a dozen seats as the party is bringing in new faces to replace old guards for the upcoming Assembly polls.