England lived up to their favourites billing in the T20 World Cup final in Melbourne on Sunday as they defeated Pakistan to be crowned world champions in the shortest format for the second time.
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Ben Stokes, who had played a central role in England’s victory in the 2019 ODI World Cup final, aced yet another run chase with an unbeaten 52 off 49 balls as the Jos Buttler-led side chased down the 138-run target set by Pakistan with five wickets and an over to spare.
Though they struggled after being invited to bat by Buttler, posting a modest 137/8 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground with none of the batters crossing the 50-mark, Pakistan fought back admirably with the ball to put England under pressure. And they were right in the game until the 16th over of the chase, which proved to be the turning point and saw the match tilt in favour of the reigning ODI world champions.
Pace spearhead Shaheen Shah Afridi drew first blood for Pakistan by dismissing Alex Hales, England’s top-scorer in their 10-wicket hammering of India in the semis, in the very first over. Afridi, who made it to the World Cup in the nick of time after recovering from a knee injury, had been peaking at the right time during the tournament before the final, dishing out match-winning performances against South Africa, Bangladesh and in the semi-final against New Zealand, and was setting the stage on fire in the summit clash as well.
Unfortunately for the Men in Green, his physical ailments would catch up with him in the most crucial hour as Afridi would first pull out of his run-up at the start of his third over and would end up bowling just one more delivery before hobbling off the park for good.
Part-time off-spinner Iftikhar Ahmed would then take over for the remaining deliveries, and would get hit for a four and a six by Stokes off the last two balls, signalling a shift in the momentum. Stokes had been batting cautiously until then, and those two hits appeared to have broken the shackles for him. Mohammad Wasim would then get hit for three fours by Moeen Ali in the following over that cost the Pakistanis 16 runs and the game was as good as over for them by then.
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