Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Nov 13: Ben Stokes’ unbeaten 52 in 49 balls took England over the finishing line to be crowned the 2022 T20 cricket World Cup champion beating Pakistan by five wickets in the final after his teammate Sam Curran with a brilliant bowling performance of 3 for 12 runs helped restrict Pakistan to a below par score of 137 for eight in 20 overs after being sent into bat by Jos Buttler.
This is England’s second T20 World Cup win, 12 years after Paul Collingwood’s team had beaten Australia to win the first ICC title in 2010. England has also emerged the first team in the world to hold both the 50-over ODI World Cup and 20-over T20 World Cup championship together after the team won the ODI final in 2019 edging past New Zealand in which also Ben Stokes had emerged the star performer. With the second T20 crown, England joins the West Indies as the only other two-time winners since the tournament’s inception in 2007.
Sam Curran for his brilliant spell was named the player of the final match and was also adjudged the player of the tournament for taking highest number of 13 wickets in the championship.
After its lacklustre batting, Pakistan needed a large-hearted bowling performance to stay in the match and its bowlers did just that with the ball swinging and seaming. At 45/3 with the powerplay still on, Pakistan had fought their way back into the match and a lot now rested on the broad shoulders of England’s 2019 World Cup hero Ben Stokes. Stokes and Brook took the total past 80 and kept the asking rate within a comfortable range before Shadab Khan struck in his last over accounting for Brook and England’s strong batting line-up undid all its efforts and helped the team go past Pakistan’s score with one over to spare.
A massive turnaround happened when Pakistan’s premier paceman Shaheen Afridi hobbled off the field after bowling the first delivery of the 16th over. Part-time off-spinner Iftikhar was handed the ball to finish the over and he almost dismissed Ben Stokes. The ball dropped short of Babar Azam at long off and Stokes went on to hit a boundary and six off the last two deliveries to bring the equation down to 28 needed off 24 balls.
Moeen started the next over from Mohammad Wasim with two consecutive boundaries and finished it with another one as England needed 12 to win off 3 overs. With 6 runs needed off 11 balls, Mohammad Wasim ended Ali’s 19-run cameo to Keep Pakistan breathing but it did not last long and the match ended the same over.
Pakistan were put to bat first after England skipper Buttler won the toss. Pakistan captain Babar Azam and opening partner Mohammad Rizwan tried to get the team off to a steady start but Curran provided England the early breakthrough as Rizwan chopped onto his stumps for a personal score of 15.
England continued to keep the Pakistan batters on a tight leash, giving away only 39 runs in the powerplay. Babar dropped anchor but wickets kept falling around him as Mohammad Haris (8) failed to get his attacking play to the fore in the summit clash, falling prey to the guile of Adil Rashid. Babar and left-hander Shan Masood brought some stability to the innings with their watchful approach, carrying the team to 68/2 after 10 overs. Masood attacked Liam Livingstone’s over and took Pakistan to 84/2 after 11 overs. But wickets started tumbling thereafter as Rashid dismissed Babar for 32 and Stokes returned to send back the dangerous Iftikhar Ahmed for a duck but a few lucky strokes towards the end took Pakistan to 137/8.
Scoreboard
Pakistan Innings: Mohammad Rizwan b Sam Curran 15 Babar Azam c and b Adil Rashid 32 Mohammad Haris c Stokes b Adil Rashid 8 Shan Masood c Livingstone b Sam Curran 38 Iftikhar Ahmed c Jos Buttler b Stokes 0 Shadab Khan c Chris Woakes b Chris Jordan 20 Mohammad Nawaz c Livingstone b Sam Curran 5 Mohammad Wasim Jr c Livingstone b Chris Jordan 4 Shaheen Afridi not out 5 Haris Rauf not out 1 Extras: (B-1, LB-1, W-6, NB-1) 9
Total: (8 wkts, 20 Overs)
Fall of Wickets: 1-29, 2-45, 3-84, 4-85, 5-121, 6-123, 7-129, 8-131.
England bowling: Ben Stokes 4-0-32-1, Chris Woakes 3-0-26-0, Sam Curran 4-0-12-3, Adil Rashid 4-1-22-2, Chris Jordan 4-0-27-2, Liam Livingstone 1-0-16-0.
England Innings: Jos Buttler c Rizwan b Haris Rauf 26 Alex Hales b Shaheen Afridi 1 Philip Salt c Iftikhar Ahmed b Haris Rauf 10 Ben Stokes not out 52 Harry Brook c Shaheen Afridi b Shadab Khan 20 Moeen Ali b Mohammad Wasim Jr 19 Liam Livingstone not out 1 Extras: (LB-1, W-8) 9
Total: (5 wkts, 19 Overs) 138
Fall of Wickets: 1-7, 2-32, 3-45, 4-84, 5-132
Pakistan bowling: Shaheen Afridi 2.1-0-13-1, Naseem Shah 4-0-30-0, Haris Rauf 4-0-23-2, Shadab Khan 4-0-20-1, Mohammad Wasim Jr 4-0-38-1, Iftikhar Ahmed 0.5-0-13-0