England became T20 champion for the second time after defeating Pakistan by 5 wickets
Melbourne. All-rounder Ben Stokes played an unbeaten 52 not out to clinch the T20 World Cup title with a five-wicket win over Pakistan in the final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground here on Sunday. Made England champion for the second time. Stokes was heartbroken in the 2016 final in Kolkata when Carlos Brathwaite hit him for four consecutive sixes in the final over, six years after that incident, Stokes finally rose to the occasion in a big match and defeated England. He had prepared himself to win the second T20 World Cup trophy. With this win, England became the first team in the world to win two World Cup trophies at the same time in international cricket. Stokes was instrumental in the 2019 ODI World Cup final victory at home.
Chasing 138, England lost Alex Hales (1) in the opening over as Shaheen Shah Afridi uprooted Hales’ middle stump. He and Naseem Shah tried to get some swing, but Jos Buttler hit three fours off the fuller deliveries, leaving England’s scoreboard moving fast. Phil Salt escapes from a lbw and hits Haris Rauf for a boundary, but struggles to grasp the ball. After two balls, Rauf walks the salt (10). Naseem then gave five wides in front of Butler in the fifth over and the right-handed batsman hit a six at fine leg. But in the sixth over, Rauf got his second wicket by getting skipper Butler (26) caught by Rizwan. Stokes and Harry Brooke tried to take England closer to the target with a 39-run partnership for the fourth wicket. Both tried to reduce the run gap by hitting boundaries in between. Brooke flicks Rauf at mid-on, while Stokes reverse sweeps Shadab. But Brooke (20) struggled badly for timing and was dismissed at long off by Shadab in the 13th over. In the next over, Stokes was run out when a direct hit from mid-on missed the stumps.
When Shaheen was off the field with just one delivery due to a knee problem, Stokes took advantage of it by hitting a four over cover and hitting part-time spinner Iftikhar Ahmed for a six at long off. Moeen Ali hit fours off the first two balls of the 17th over by hitting Wasim Jr. Ali then ended the over with a four over the keeper’s head. However, Moeen (19) was clean bowled in the 19th over by a brilliant yorker from Wasim Jr. But Stokes completed his fifty in 47 balls with a controlled drive at full toss after deep cover. Stokes made England the champion of T20 for the second time with a winning shot. With this victory, England also avenged their 22-run loss to Pakistan in the final of the ODI World Cup in Melbourne in 1992.
