Winners of the 2019 ODI World Cup have now been fittingly crowned as champions of the T20 World Cup 2022 as well, after they defeat Pakistan in the grand finale at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on Sunday.
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En route the rather under-par target of 138 runs handed by Pakistan, England were in a spot of bother courtesy of some brilliant display of seam bowling from the Pakistani pacers, on a pitch which yet again was conducive for fast bowling.
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Haris Rauf (4-0-23-2), and Naseem Shah (4-0-30-0) in particular, was simply immaculate with his length and line outside the off-stump, managing to beat the outside edge of the English bats at least a dozen times of his 24 deliveries.
Even leg-spinner Shadab Khan (4-0-20-1) dried the runs during the middle Overs, to stay in the game at least till the 16th Over of the chase.
However, with Shaheen Afridi injuring himself post taking a reverse-cup catch to dismiss Harry Brook, and with it failing to bowl his remaining two Overs, all England required was one big Over to nail the chase.
With Iftikhar Ahmed leaking 13 runs off 5 remaining deliveries off Shaheen’s unfinished 16th Over, it was all done and dusted for England who won the final by 5 wickets, and with an Over to spare.
Ben Stokes winning moment
With the English top-order succumbing to the Pakistani pacers upfront, the English Test skipper Ben Stokes (52* off 49) rose to the occasion on yet another World Cup grand finale, to stay right till the end and see his side home.
Stokes remained unperturbed despite struggling during the middle-phase of his innings, and had the self-belief in his ability to to not throw his wicket away with a modest target at sight.
On the final delivery of the 19th Over, the 31-year-old took the winning single off Mohammad Wasim Jr. to help lift England their second T20 World Cup title.
He was embraced tightly by Liam Livingstone at the other end post the winning moment, and some of the other players rushed towards the duo to begin with the celebrations.
PAK vs ENG T20 highlights today on Hotstar
Watch the highlights of England versus Pakistan T20 World Cup 2022 grand finale by clicking here.
