 "England clinch 2022 T20 World Cup title after thrilling five-wicket win over Pakistan at MCG")
England rode on a brilliant fifty by Ben Stokes to beat Pakistan by five wickets in the final of the T20 World Cup 2022 on Sunday in Melbourne. With the win, England have clinched their second T20 World Cup title and become only the second team after West Indies to win the elusive title twice. Chasing a paltry 138-run target, England started on a poor note as they lost Alex Hales in the first over of their innings. However, skipper Jos Buttler smashed 26 off 17 balls to keep Pakistan on the backfoot. But, Pakistan bounced back in the game with quick wickets of Philip Salt and Buttler, and maintained pressure on England’s batters by not giving easy runs. However, star all-rounder Ben Stokes (52 not out off 49 balls) once again proved his mettle and just like the 2019 ODI World Cup, anchored the chase despite occasional scratchiness and had a calm Moeen Ali (19) as an ideal foil. Stokes soaked the pressure along with Ali as the duo put on a 48-run stand for the fifth wicket to nail the win that avenged England’s loss to the same rivals in the ‘92 World Cup final at the same venue. Notably, England, who crossed the finishing line with an over to spare, regained the title they had won in 2010 in the West Indies.
WHAT A WIN! 🎉
— ICC (@ICC) November 13, 2022
England are the new #T20WorldCup champions! 🤩#PAKvENG | #T20WorldCupFinal | 📝 https://t.co/HdpneOINqo pic.twitter.com/qK3WPai1Ck
For Pakistan, Haris Rauf bagged two wickets while Shaheen Afridi, Shadab Khan and Mohammad Wasim Jr picked a wicket each. Interestingly, England have now become the first team to simultaneously hold both World titles (ODI and T20I). Earlier, Sam Curran delivered stunning spell and bagged three while Chris Jordan and Adil Rashid took two wickets each respectively to restrict the Men in Green to 137/8 in the allotted 20 overs. Shan Masood scored the highest runs for Pakistan with 38 while skipper Babar Azam scored 32. Curran, who made comeback from an injury earlier this year, has been England’s ‘go to’ bowler in the competition and he proved that on the big stage with brilliant figures of 4-0-12-3. The wily Rashid (4-1-22-2) wasn’t going to be left far behind as he choked the run-flow in the middle overs with as many as 25 dot balls between him and Curran. Rashid, with his stupendous effort, time and again showed how the Indian team management bungled its script by letting Yuzvendra Chahal cool his heels throughout the tournament. The MCG track had enough bounce and pace but Buttler’s best-performing bowling duo (Curran and Rashid) did exactly the opposite – take the pace off their deliveries.
A Ben Stokes special at the MCG! 😍
— ICC (@ICC) November 13, 2022
England take a special title home 🏆#PAKvENG | #T20WorldCupFinal | 📝 https://t.co/HdpneOrKoo pic.twitter.com/BOIrCSwlyn
Rashid flighted and lowered his pace to 75 kmph while Curran bowled between 126 kmph to 130 kmph which made run scoring difficult for the Pakistani batters. Both Babar Azam (32 off 28 balls) and Mohammed Rizwan (15 off 14) started on a cautious note as they had been doing for the past one year. Curran, England’s most consistent bowler in the tournament, angled one across at fuller length and Rizwan didn’t have enough width to drive as he dragged that back to the stumps. Mohammed Haris (8 off 12), the find of the tournament for Pakistan, generally struggled before Rashid ended his misery. He flighted one and enticed Haris to charge down the track but he was too close to the pitch of the delivery and was holed out at long-on. Babar hit a couple of boundaries but as it has been for him generally, it was more of a struggle to keep the scoreboard alive. In fact, Shan Masood (38 off 28), who takes time before taking the attack back to the opposition camp, looked more aggressive than his skipper. At the start of the back-10, when Jos Buttler introduced Liam Livingstone to bowl his off-breaks, Shan got 14 runs with a down the ground boundary and a six. But Babar at the other end was foxed by the guile of Rashid as he shaped to play the cut and found a googly cramping him for room to give a return catch to the English leg-spinner of Pakistani descent.
The MCG is packed for this grand finale 🎉#PAKvENG | #T20WorldCupFinal pic.twitter.com/Fnh7g0orER
— ICC (@ICC) November 13, 2022
Iftikhar Ahmed (0) would like to forget the evening as he was kept under tight leash by Rashid and then Stokes bowled one in the channel to get a nick as Pakistan slumped to 85 for 4 in the 13th over. Shan would definitely curse himself as he built a launchpad for himself and thew it all away as Curran tested his patience with variations of cross seam deliveries and cutters. The mistimed pull was easily taken at the mid-wicket boundary and Pakistan cricket’s current darling Shadab Khan (20 off 14 balls) promised a lot but delivered too little. Read all the Latest News ****, Trending News ****, Cricket News ****, Bollywood News ****, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook****, Twitter and Instagram****.
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