Pakistan (PAK) vs England (ENG) Live score T20 World Cup Final: England have lost three wickets inside the powerplay

Preview: Pakistan will be hoping for a repeat of the miracle of 1992 while England will aim to add a second ICC trophy in three years when the two teams lock horns in the T20 World Cup final in Melbourne on Sunday.

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Both teams made fine comebacks from early jitters in their respective campaign; England had begun with a scratchy win against Afghanistan before suffering a shock loss against neighbours Ireland, followed by their marquee clash against hosts Australia getting washed out at the MCG. The 2010 T20 world champions though, won their remaining games against New Zealand and Sri Lanka to finish level on points with the Black Caps and the Aussies and beat the latter to the knockouts on the basis of Net Run Rate.

Pakistan’s journey to the final has been even more incredible. The Men in Green were on the brink of elimination after suffering back-to-back defeats in their first two matches against India and Zimbabwe, both games going down the wire, and it wasn’t until their third outing against Netherlands that they finally had points on the board.

Pakistan would start believing in their chances of making it to the knockouts after dishing out a clinical performance against South Africa in a rain-affected game in Sydney, but still needed other results to go their way to qualify. Netherlands’ stunning upset of the Proteas opened the doors for them and Babar Azam and Co would grab the lifeline with both hands, sealing their place in the last four by beating Bangladesh.

Preview: It’s ENG batters versus PAK bowlers in explosive final at the MCG

Both Pakistan and England would then register one-sided wins in the semi-finals, both victories setup by their opening combinations. Babar and Mohammad Rizwan would share a 105-run opening stand that helped Pakistan beat New Zealand by seven wickets while England skipper Jos Buttler and Alex Hales would decimate a hapless Indian bowling attack to stitch an unbroken 170-run partnership after being set 169 to win.

The only bit of trouble ahead of the final showdown of the tournament, however, is the weather forecast for Sunday, with a 95 per cent chance of rain predicted for the Victorian capital. Unlike the group-stage matches, the ICC has the provision of a Reserve Day for knockout matches. Unfortunately for fans, players and organisers, a similar forecast has been made for Monday as well.

Read: Unpredictable Melbourne weather has everyone on the edge

Squads:

England: Jos Buttler(wk/c), Alex Hales, Philip Salt, Ben Stokes, Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Sam Curran, Chris Woakes, Chris Jordan, Adil Rashid, David Willey, Tymal Mills, Mark Wood, Dawid Malan

Pakistan: Mohammad Rizwan(wk), Babar Azam(c), Mohammad Haris, Shan Masood, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Wasim Jr, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Shaheen Afridi, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Hasnain, Haider Ali, Asif Ali