England players celebrate with the winners trophy after their win against Pakistan in the final of the T20 World Cup cricket at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne, Australia, Sunday, Nov. 13, 2022. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)Pakistan vs England, T20 World Cup Final 2022:Ben Stokes held his nerve with an unbeaten half-century as England claimed their second Twenty20 World Cup title with a five-wicket win over Pakistan at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Sunday. Thirty years after losing the 50-over World Cup final to Pakistan at the MCG, England turned the tables on the south Asians with brilliant death bowling and with Stokes finishing on 52 not out in a chase of 138 for victory.
Earlier. England won the toss and decided to field first in the T20 World Cup final against Pakistan at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Sunday. Both teams were unchanged from their semi-finals. Pakistan registered 137 in their quota of 20 overs.
Sam Curran was named the player of the match (3/12) and the player of the tournament (12 wickets in six matches).
Follow PAK vs ENG highlights below
Pakistan
137/8 (20.0)England
138/5 (19.0)England beat Pakistan by 5 wickets
Babar Azam and Jos Buttler pose with the T20 World Cup trophy at the Melbourne Cricket Ground roof. (Photo: T20 World Cup/Twitter)
Moeen Ali: "This is one of my best days of cricketing career. I feel as a team we deserved it, over a long period of time we have played some amazing cricket, obviously fell short but the semis and then today to win against a brilliant Pakistan side is an amazing feeling, especially in front of fans and family. It was just about keeping my intent, if I get out I get out, being positive and it was the right balance to Stokesy, he played some great shots and put in a crucial partnership."
Ben Stokes: "In finals especially when chasing.. you probably forget all the hard work before that, how we bowled, Adil Rashid and Sam Curran won us the game. It was a tricky wicket and one that you never felt in, so to restrict them to 130-odd bowlers have to take a lot of credit for that. With that (defeat to Ireland) being so early in the competition we obviously had to address it, say what had to be said and then let it go. In tournaments like these you can't carry baggage with you, that was a little blip on the way, credit to Ireland for turning up and beating us, but the best teams learn from their mistakes and not let it affect them. Pretty good evening. Representing your country in World Cups is amazing.. but it has been a good one."
Rememeber this, since the inaugural edition of the T20 World Cup, England are the first team to hold both, the ODI World Cup and the T20 World Cup trophy togther.
-Shahid Afridi (2007)
-Tillakaratne Dilshan (2009)
-Kevin Pietersen (2010)
-Shane Watson (2012)
-Virat Kohli (2014 & 2016)
-David Warner (2021)
-Sam Curran (2022)
Jos Buttler: "It is. To win the T20 World Cup now, really proud of everyone here. It's been a fantastic tournament. We went to Pakistan before coming here, which was a valuable time for the group. he has fitted in really well. We have got a few Australians in the coaching staff. Huge swing in the game, fantastic over from Adil. Has been outstanding for us in the last three games, just the guy who makes things happen. When you hit a length there is some movement. We managed to get away to a start but it wasn't easy."
Babar Azam: "Congratulations to England, they fought well. We felt like home here, got great support at every venue. Thanks for your support. I just told the boys to play our natural game, but we fell 20 runs short and the boys fought well with the ball. Our bowling is one of the best attacks in the world. Unfortunately Shaheen's injury put us off, but that's part of the game."
The England all-rounder has been chosen as the player of the match, and the player of the tournament.
Curran: "I don't think I should be getting this, I think Ben Stokes should get this (PoTM.). Big square boundaries, so I knew my into the wicket bowling would work with big boundaries. I mixed it up with slower balls to make it tough for the batter. Incredibly special. We all look upto him. People question him but he's incredible. Azaming crowd. I wanted to be adaptable coming into the tournament. I haven't bowled much at the death before. Needed to be good with the bat too. How good is it to be a World Champ (smiles)."
Sriram Veera: As soon as he hit, Ben Stokes started to backpedal, roar, and kept roaring till first Livingstone hugged him. And then the rest of his team-mates. Perhaps, no other contemporary cricketer seizes big moments like him. He is imprinted in all the biggies. The 2019 World Cup final. Even when he was sprawled on the ground, the ball ricocheting off his bat, became the image. The Ashes when he couldn’t even see his partner Jack Leach bat, hunched as he was at the non-striker covering his eyes. And then that gobsmacking smack off Pat Cummins. And now, in another World Cup, he has caught hold of the big moment and pocketed it with steel and ambition. Even in that last over that England lost in Kolkata, it was him with the bowling but where it could have scarred a lesser mortal, he has wiped it off like only he can. We know the backstory: the pub fight that threatened his career, the death of his father, the mental-health struggle, the Test captaincy recharge with Brendon McCullum, the ODI World Cup star, and now the T20 World Cup star.
Devendra Pandey: Ben Stokes is like a premium stock, one should buy it on the dip. Stokes was slow, wasn’t connecting like he should but till he was there, even if not getting the best at the World Cup, the team knew he would return in the long run. He held his nerves and like a good stock, picked at the right moment when he slammed Iftikhar Ahmed six and a four. Before the over he was batting on 29 off 36 balls. And by the time Ahmed concluded his over, his score jumped to 39 off 38 balls. Good Stokes always work.
Sriram Veera: With 38 runs needed off 26 balls, Ben Stokes did a Virat Kohli: two successive boundaries under immense pressure. Going by his own career, we can say he did a Stokes. Nerveless, ambitious, and one who trusts his own game. Against him was Shadab Khan, a very good leggie. First ball, Stokes backed away to slam it to long-off boundary. Nasser Hussain started to turn into a Bill Lawry on air. The next was a thriller: Stokes backed away, Shadab held his nerve and for a long time, it seemed he had his man. Stokes had heaved it on the up and the white ball seemingly hung in the air. The long-on fielder jumped but grasped thin air. Stokes, and England were away. “What about this bloke Stokes. What about big occasion? Staggering,” Ian Smith as ever with the pithily insightful cries that would stay in the mind for long.
When he came to the World Cup, he hadn’t played a T20 game in 18 months. Buttler sat him down for a chat to tell him what his role was. Perhaps he said, we will be stuck in a hole in two pressure must-win games, against Sri Lanka and then in the final. You do your thing. For that’s what Stokes has done.
Mohammad Wasim Jr cleans up Moeen Ali. Six needed off the last 10 balls.
Moeen Ali goes big in the 17th over. Three boundaries for him off it. 16 runs come. England need 12 off the last 18 balls. DLS par score, are we even talking about this now, was 111.
Sriram Veera: No other wicketkeeper in the world appeals for everything as much as the excitable Mohammad Rizwan. If the ball has come to him, it’s out. Even though he himself might later suggest, as he did to Haris Rauf in the 15th over, that he can’t hear anything. But first the hands will go up.
He wasn’t even a natural keeper when very young but decided one day that he was going to don the gloves. “When he started to become a wicketkeeper, everyone persuaded him not to bother,” his mentor Talha Ramani once told this newspaper. “But he is a stubborn man; it’s almost as if disbelief is his fuel. ‘Agar mehnat karoonga, toh log khamosh ho jayenge, bhai’ (If I work hard, people will fall silent).”
They have fallen silent alright, but he hasn’t. Appealing for everything, and then when the umpire turns it down, a lovely smile lights up his face.
FOUR. SIX. Ben Stokes finishes the 16th over in style. 100 up for England. 110/4. The three lions are on the charge here. DLS par score at the stage, 104.
Abhishek Purohit: After playing all sorts of tricks on Harry Brook but enjoying no luck, Shadab finally got his man three balls in to the 13th over. With only five runs having accrued in the previous two overs, England were getting fidgety. And Shadab threw one up fuller and wider outside off stump, like how Yuzvendra Chahal would have surely done with the benefit of the longer boundaries, had he only been played in this World Cup. Brook threw his hands at the bait, but hit it too flat and straight to Shaheen Shah Afridi at long-off. The fielder seemed to have done his knee some damage, but it brought Pakistan another precious wicket.
Sandip G: Haris Rauf was nursing a stiff leg for most of the match. He would walk gingerly, stutter around with a grimace, wince in pain at times. But it did not prevent him from making lung-busting runs or fling to the ground to block boundaries, saving 4s to be 3s. He was prowling at long-on when Harry Brook pulled Naseem Shah. The ball raced fence-wards, but just before the ball thudded onto the boundary cushion, Rauf’s little palms intervened. He then somehow staggered back onto his feet and flung a flat, fast throw. Soon after the effort, he clutched his thighs, but the pain hardly seemed to matter.
Abhishek Purohit: Shadab Khan bowled a 95 kph delivery that pitched and scooted towards off stump. Harry Brook was caught on the crease but just managed to get some bat on it to survive. Shadab had taken out Aiden Markram with a similar delivery to derail South Africa’s chase. The next ball to Brook was given more air and bowled slower. It drew Brook out, and did him in the air; he was nowhere near the pitch of it but somehow squeezed it out to the sweeper, even as Shadab had his hands on his head. On another day, he could have had Brook at least off one of these two lovely deliveries.
Screengrab: Hotstar
Yep, we've heard and seen that one before. Some luck falls in England's favor as Stokes, trying to reverse sweep off Shadab Khan, edges one but it goes behind for four. 69/3 after nine overs. For the DLS enthusiasts, par score after nine overs was supposed to be 60.
Screengrab: Hotstar
Abhishek Purohit: Perhaps only Jos Buttler could have pulled this off in a World Cup final. After being beaten three successive times by the ball leaving him from Naseem Shah, he moved across, exposed the stumps and scooped Naseem for six over short fine leg. The downside of this shot always is that it makes you look silly if you miss and get dismissed. Imagine how it would have made the England captain look in a World Cup final, like Mike Gatting’s reverse-paddling dismissal in the 1987 final.
For Pakistan, it would have been cruel to not have sent back Buttler after Naseem beat him every time in that over apart from that six. And Haris Rauf duly claimed Buttler midway in the next over, caught behind off a similar delivery. Cruel for Naseem nevertheless.
Sandip G: Scooping a 150 kph quick on a bouncy track in the final of a World Cup? Forget the technical proficiency, the sheer courage of Jos Buttler has to be admired. Just the previous over had England lost Phillip Salt, when they were purring at eight runs an over, and a more conventional-minded batsman would have just worked the ball round his legs or bunted it down the ground. But not Buttler. He would just shuffle across, hunker down, waiting for the thunderbolt and just scoop it over with a flap of the wrists. Had he missed, the ball would have crashed onto the stumps. But Buttler seldom sees risks, only fours and sixes rather. That though was his last boundary of the tournament. But the sheer audacity of it. Buttler, though, might differ, pointing out that it’s his percentage stroke.
Sriram Veera: And Buttler falls, a huge moment in the world cup final. Expectedly, the blow came from a right-handed seamer. For a while Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf had been teasing him with length deliveries in the off-stump corridor. Poke and a miss was the theme. Then came Rauf’s beauty, after a fabulous wicket-less over from Naseem. This one, unlike Naseem’s, didn’t shape away but straightened from a length. Out came the poke and this one took the edge and had Rauf jumping in joy at his second home at MCG. Enter the kid Harry Brook, hailed by Kevin Pietersen as the future of England cricket.
Sandeep Dwivedi: The pace bowler in Ian Bishop came out roaring. Naseem Shah had bowled three balls outside off stump to Jos Buttler and just missed the edge. Bishop shouted on the mic, it was almost a lament. "Still no slip, still no slip ... I think wicket-keeper Rizwan is asking for it," he said with a bit of relief. Soon Iftikhar could be seen moving to the slips, hoping that Naseem's well directed thunderbolts would touch Buttler's bat and reach him. Next ball, Buttler moves outside off stump and guides the ball over the keeper's head for a six. Naseem doesn't get rattled, he sticks to the off-stump line and beats Buttler again. His good work doesn't go to waste as Haris Rauf too sticks to the same plan and gets Buttler in the next over. The game-changing wicket could even be a match winning one.
Sandip G: Babar Azam could be a bowler’s delight. There are fewer captains who could be cajoled so easily for a review. Shaheen Shah Afridi didn’t implore him for a review when Phillip Salt missed a pull at a slower full toss that hit him on the back pad. It was more a 'what do you think of it' gaze from Afridi. But Babar, with a broad smile, immediately sought a review, surprising Afridi himself and some of his teammates. Turns out that the call was not too bad as it first seemed, but for the umpire’s call on where the ball had pitched (just outside the leg-stump), the decision would have been overturned. As the decision was conveyed to Babar, he smiled broadly again and gestured to Afridi that it was a matter of half an inch. Afridi applauded, why would he not? He has a captain who readily seeks DRS.
Devendra Pandey: Some of the Indian fans seated inside the stadium have been celebrating louder than the English fans for the finals at the Melbourne Cricket Stadium. They cheered and danced whenever the England team got wickets of the Pakistan batsmen. When the English batsman cleared the ropes they welcomed that too with applause. The local Indian settled in Australia certainly wants Pakistan to lose. Some rivalries cannot be erased even on a sports field.
Haris Rauf strikes again. This time gets Jos Buttler to edge one behind and Mohammad Rizwan takes a regulation catch. Big wicket this for Pakistan. England, 45/3.
Sandeep Dwivedi: There is something magical about fast bowlers who can land the ball on the seam. Example: Shaheen Shah Afridi's unplayable ball to Alex Hales. What is it about these special deliveries that make the batter clueless? There is a school of thought that believes that these balls are so difficult to read because even the bowlers have no idea which way they will move after pitching. Once Ajit Agarkar was asked why Zaheer Khan gets Graeme Smith all the time, doesn't the batsman of that high quality know which way the ball will move. "Honestly, if you ask Zaheer, even he can't," he says. What he meant was when a 140 kph ball lands on the seam it gets a mind of its own. Depending on at which angle the seam hits the ground and the wear and tear of the surface the ball changes direction or at times even keeps going straight. It's only hope and a prayer that can save a batsman when a real quick one hits the perfect length with the seam.
Sriram Veera: When Shaheen Afridi wanted the lbw appeal against Phil Salt to be reviewed, he turned to Mohammad Rizwan and asked him to go for it. Babar Azam was around with a smile, and gestured to his chest - as if to say, hey I am the captain, it’s my decision. And he went for it. He also had a chat with the umpire Kumar Dharmasena, after he had gone upstairs, and Dharmasena shook his head to say no, not out. And it was not out.
Sriram Veera: Shaheen Afridi vs Jos Buttler has been the fan-cry ahead of the final but it would well come down to how Haris Rauf bowls to Buttler. Or a right-hander like Naseem Shah. Buttler is wristy and pretty good against full balls. What tests him is what Bhuvneshwar Kumar used to produce at his pomp: the nip-backer from a good length from just outside off stump. He has cleaned up Buttler’s stumps with that line and length. Shaheen was convinced that he had got an outside edge in the first over against Buttler but none of his team-mates were convinced. Over now to Buttler vs right-hand seamers.
But Afridi vs Hales is a different story. As soon as the ball started to tail in, you knew Hales was in trouble. The leg hadn't moved, the head began to fall over, and there was no surprise when the death rattle came. Out spread Shaheen's arms.
Adil Rashid: "I am trying to do my bit. It all matters till the team is doing good. You asses the pitch and bowl accordingly. I tried to bowl slower as they like pace and bowling slow is my strength. There will be lots of twos with the big boundaries. I think when we first came here, we would have been very happy with 137."
Chris Jordan bowls the last over and he is on the money right away and picks up the wicket of Mohammad Wasim Jr. A streaky four and then a single to end the over. Just six from the last over. England have been really meticulous, in their execution and field placements. England kept it full early and then pulled their lengths back through the middle and death overs. Score after 20 overs, PAK: 137/8
Sam Curran gets rid off Nawaz! What a tournament he is having. This time it is fired in and the batter chipped to Livingstone in the deep! Curran ends his spell 4-0-12-3. Score after 19 overs, PAK: 131/7
Mohammad Wasim Jr smashes it off the back foot and its dropped at point! Brook pounced, seemed to have gathered it, but in his frustration at grassing it, he flings it wide of Jordan for bonus runs. Its all happening in the middle. Score after 18 overs, PAK: 127/6
How Imran Khan got an ill Inzamam to play, why a sulking Miandad was flown into Australia, a talk which spurred the ‘Cornered Tigers. Sriram Veera talks to Intikhab Alam, the manager of Pakistan's 1992 World Cup winning team, to string together a fascinating account of the triumph, its mystique and magic, rooh and ruler, fact and fiction, aura and romance. (READ MORE)
Sam Curran has done it again! Into the pitch and slightly slower and Shan Masood tried to get under it but can only lift it to Livingstone -who was well inside the rope. Big wicket at this moment as Masood was looking well set. Masood is gone for 38 off 28 balls. Curran concedes just three from the over. Score after 17 overs, PAK: 122/5
If you have no clue what we are talking about - Remember 1992 India v Pakistan World Cup, and in particular Zahid Fazal’s dismissal that had Manoj Prabhakar running in glee, wagging his index finger? No? Then you can rewatch Ben Stokes v Iftikhar Ahmed from the 2022 T20 final. Same difference. A length delivery straightening outside off, a tentative poke, and the keeper takes the catch. Incidentally, Fazal, for this if you bothered to read the bumper 1992 redux preview we put up today, would keep another mystery alive. The famous 1992 World Cup cornered tiger speech of Imran. In Aquib Javed’s telling, it was life changing. In the manager Intikhab Alam’s telling, it changed the mood of the dressing room. Fazal, on the other hand, would say no such talk, no such meeting ever took place. Hmmm. Perhaps he would say the same about his dismissal too!
Sriram Veera
Shan Masood gets going with 5 overs left for Pakistan. Shadab Khan 10(8) and Shan Masood 34(23) are in the middle. Final five overs are coming up. No sign of dew so far and the outfield is dry. Projected score is 158. A par score is not enough for Pakistan. Score after 15 overs, PAK: 106/4
Another excellent outing for Adil Rashid with two wickets for 22 runs in his four. He first picked Mohammad Haris who was looking to attack him and the Pakistan skipper Babar Azam who was looking dangerous. The leg-spinner bowled a wicket maiden.
Shadab Khan uses his strong hands to smack Adil Rashid down the ground and lofts it straight back over Rashid. Just the power takes it over the fielder for a four. Meanwhile, Adil Rashid completes a faboulous spell. Score after 14 overs, PAK: 98/4
Stokes snares Iftikhar Ahmed, out caught behind by Jos Buttler!! Stokes gets one to straighten after pitching and the ball takes the edege. Iftikhar Ahmed is gone for a duck. Score after 13 overs, PAK: 90/4
How many times has Babar Azam fallen to Adil Rashid’s googly? Now one more time in the World Cup final. Jos Buttler’s reactions told the story. When the googly broke back in and tied up Babar for room, Buttler wasn’t sure what happenned. He would just limply put his right arm about the plausible lbw chance. But the ball had been stabbed off the bat and unlike his captain, Rashid was well aware of what happenned. He would dive forward to take the rebound and Buttler would be there to envelop him with a hug.
He nearly had Iftikhar Ahmed too in the same over. A dream over. Two stinging leg breaks beat the hesitant poke. Then he fired a front-of-hand slider on the off stump that had Iftikhar just about stabbing away from the stumps. Then came the googly, which nearly broke through Iftikhar’s off drive. Rashid would drop his head, disappointed that he hadn’t snared another victim. It was the over of the World Cup final, thus far, and one that he would remember for a long time.
- Sriram Veera
Is this a library? This is what the travelling Premier League football fans chant at away games when their team has quietened the stadium with an early strike. Against India at Adelaide in the semi-final, Alex Hales and Jos Buttler had forced those in blue to watch the proceedings with fingers on their lips. In the final, the English new ball bowlers were doing the same to the highly audible Pakistan fans. Those bringing the roof down at MCG with their 'Dil Dil Pakistan' cries before the toss hadn't much to sing because of the slow start and the early dismissal of Baby Inzi - the fearless stroke player Muhammad Haris. Will the library turn into a dance floor? Like you have been all through the tournament, keep following the final at The Indian Express live blog. By the way we will be there for you during the FIFA World Cup. It's never a library here.
- Sandeep Dwivedi
The nudge off the leg-side is not even considered a stroke. But subcontinental batsmen would rave about its usefulness. It is their best friend when the time is not the ripest to attack, which is often the case in the middle overs when you are two wickets down and the spinners are operating. So batsmen would thrust their front pad, and even if they are not to the pitch of the ball, they would use their malleable wrists to “nudge” the ball into the gaps for a double. Babar Azam is one of the finest in the nudging business and nudged Adil Rashid for a pair of twos. Watch any of his innings, including the rearguard act against Australia a few months ago, there were plenty of those nudges. Until ofcourse...
- Sandip G
Adil Rashid picks up the big wicket of Babar Azam! Babar perishes after failing to read the googly. Rashid wins his battle against Babar. Cramped for the room, Babar tried to cut the ball but hits it straight back to the bowler. Awkard shot and Caught&Bowled!! A wicket maiden from Rashid. WOW! Score after 12 overs, PAK: 84/3