MELBOURNE, Australia —
Ben Stokes and Sam
Curran starred as England edged Pakistan by five wickets to win the Twenty20
World Cup on Sunday and become the sport’s first dual white-ball champions,
holding both the 50 and 20-over titles.
اضافة اعلان
Jos Buttler’s side held Pakistan to 137–8 in front
of a partisan 80,462 fans at a heaving Melbourne Cricket Ground, with
player-of-the-match and tournament Curran bagging 3–12 and Adil Rashid chipping
with 2–22.
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.
“In finals, especially when chasing, you probably
forget all the hard work before that. To restrict them to 130, the bowlers have
to take a lot of credit. Adil Rashid and Sam Curran won us the game,” said
Stokes.
“Pretty good evening. Representing your country in
World Cups is amazing, it has been a good one.”
Curran said Stokes should have been player of the
match.
“We all look up to him. People question him, but
he’s incredible. He’s the man,” he said.
“The way I bowl, I go into the wicket with my slower
balls and keep the batsmen guessing. World champions, how good,” he added.
The victory added to the 50-over title England won
in 2019, building on the legacy of former captain Eoin Morgan, who retired this
year after transforming the team into a white-ball juggernaut.
It was England’s second T20 crown after tasting
success in 2010, joining the West Indies as the only two-time winners since the
tournament’s inception in 2007.
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 as they reached 77–3 at the
halfway point of the innings, compared to Pakistan’s 68–2.
Harry Brook came undone on 20 against the spin of
Shadab Khan, holing out to Afridi and came down to needing 41 runs off the
final five overs.
Rashid strikes
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.
With forecast rain staying away, England produced
disciplined and economical bowling to stymie 2009 champions Pakistan, with Shan
Masood’s 38 the top score.
Stokes was given the new ball after England won the
toss and chose to field with Pakistan lucky to survive the over intact as
opener Rizwan was almost run out going for a risky single.
Rizwan and Babar Azam shared a century partnership
in their semi-final against New Zealand, but another big stand wasn’t to be,
with Rizwan dragging a delivery from Curran on to his stumps on 15.
The introduction of Rashid soon after the six-over
powerplay reaped an immediate reward with Mohammad Haris (8) attacking him on
his first ball only to sky a simple catch to Stokes.
Masood began swinging the bat in the second half of
the innings, hitting a four and six off
Liam Livingstone.
But once again Rashid got the breakthrough, pulling
off a diving catch from his own bowling to claim the vital wicket of Azam,
whose 32 came off 28 balls.
Ahmed only lasted
six balls before Masood and Shadab Khan (20) fell in the space of two runs as
Curran and Chris Jordan kept the lid on any hope Pakistan had of a late flurry.
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