Melbourne, 13 November 2022: England held their nerves against an inspired, gutsy and spirited Pakistan to win the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 final by five wickets at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Sunday.
Defending the 138 runs target, the same target which the West Indies had successfully defended against Sri Lanka in Colombo 10 years ago, Pakistan had restricted England to 97 for four after 15 overs, who needed 41 runs from 30 balls.
However, Ben Stokes buried the ghost of the 2016 T20 World Cup final over against Carlos Brathwaite in Kolkata and repeated his ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2019 final heroics at Lord’s by scoring 52 not out to help England cross the line with six balls to spare and lift the T20 trophy for the first time since 2010, becoming the first side to win the 50-over and 20-over trophies at the same time.
Stokes took advantage of Shaheen Shah Afridi’s inability to complete his third over and 16th of the innings when he clubbed part-timer Iftikhar Ahmed for 10 runs off the last two balls. Moeen Ali then struck Mohammad Wasim for three fours in the 17th over as the required target plummeted from 38 from 26 balls to 12 from 18 balls.
Wasim took revenge from Moeen by cleaning him up in the penultimate over, but Stroke befittingly struck the winning shot on the last ball of the 19th over to return unbeaten on a 49-ball 52 with five fours and a six. This was a follow-up to his 84 not out in the 2019 World Cup final in the tied final, before England beat New Zealand as a result of the tied Super Over.
However, Strokes was challenged and tested to the limits by the Pakistan bowlers throughout his match-winning innings and also survived a run-out. But more importantly, he stayed at the crease in the end, which was the need of the hour.
Pakistan once against demonstrated they are the best bowling side in the world when Shaheen dismissed Alex Hales (one) in the first over and Haris Rauf sent home Phil Salt (10) and Jos Buttler (26) as England slipped to 45 for three in 5.3 overs.
Stokes and Harry Brook (20) held the innings together by adding 39 runs for the fourth wicket, which ended when Shaheen caught Brook at long-off, but in the meantime the left-arm pacer twisted his knee.
Earlier, Pakistan had an implosion in the last four overs of their innings when they lost four wickets in 21 balls and scored 16 runs to finish at 137 for eight on a pitch that offered assistance to the bowlers and needed the batters to continue to dig-in and nudge and push the ball around for ones and twos on a big MCG outfield.
The death-overs onslaught was derailed with the departure of Shan Masood (38, 28 balls, 2x4, 1x6) who was caught at mid-wicket at the score of 121 after putting on 36 runs in 25 balls for the fifth wicket with Shadab Khan.
Five balls later at the score of 123, Shadab (20, 14 balls, 2x4) holed out to mid-off, Mohammad Nawaz (5) fell in an identical fashion to his fellow left-hander Shan at the score of 129 before Mohammad Wasim (4) gave Liam Livingstone his third catch at mid-wicket at the total of 131. Only a boundary off a top-edge from Shaheen Shah Afridi bat on the penultimate ball of the innings enabled Pakistan to match the score of the West Indies of 137 in the 2012 final against Sri Lanka.
Pakistan, after reaching 68 for two at the halfway stage, had commenced the second half of their innings confidently and aggressively when Shan Masood smashed Liam Livingstone for a four and a six as they collected 16 runs in the 11th over. However, they were unable to carry the momentum as Adil Rashid foxed Babar Azam (32, 28 balls, 2x4) with a wrong’un and then bowled five dot balls to Iftikhar Ahmed, who eventually fell to Ben Strokes in the following over for a six-ball duck.
In the first 10 overs, Babar and Mohammad Rizwan (15) had added 29 runs for the first wicket, while Mohammad Haris scored eight runs off 12 balls and put on 16 runs for the second wicket with Babar as Pakistan scored 39 for one in the PowerPlay overs.
For England, Sam Curran exploited the favourable conditions by finishing with figures of three for 12, while Adil Rashid and Chris Jordan claimed two wickets apiece conceding 22 and 27 runs, respectively.
Scores in brief
FINAL – England beat Pakistan by five wickets
Pakistan 137-8, 20 overs (Shan Masood 38, Babar Azam 32, Shadab Khan 20, Mohammad Rizwan 15; Sam Curran 3-12, Adil Rashid 2-22, Chris Jordan 2-27)
England 138-5, 19 overs (Ben Stokes 52 not out, Jos Buttler 27, Harry Brook 20, Moeen Ali 19; Haris Rauf 2-23)
Player of the final – Sam Curran (England)
Player of the tournament – Sam Curran (England)
