England on Sunday won the T20 World Cup by beating Pakistan in the final, played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
England won the toss and asked Pakistan to bat first. Brilliant speel by Sam Curran and Aadil Rashid meant that Pakistan could only manage 137-8 in 20 overs. Curran finished with a sublime spell of 2-14 in four overs, while Rashid conceded only 22 runs in his quota of gour overs by taking two wickets. Chris Jordan also picked up two wickets by conceding 27 runs.
England’s run chase started on a positive note even though they lost dangerous Alex Hales in the first over. Hales failed to read Shaheen Shah Afridi’s in-swinging delivery, which knocked the bails off. Skipper Jos Buttler tried to show aggression but he too departed by adding 26 runs including three fours and one six. The next to join Buttler and Hales in the dressing room was Phil Salt, who made 10 from nine deliveries.
England found themselves briefly in a spot of bother after Harry Brook was out for 26. This slowed down England’s batting, making the required run rate close to nine per over. However, sensible batting by Ben Stokes and a cameo knock by Moeen Ali meant that England comfortably reached the target in the end.
Ali made 19 from 13 balls, while Stokes remained unbeaten at 52 from 49 balls.
Reacting to his side’s defeat, Pakistani skipper Babar Azam said, “First of all congratulations to England, they deserve to be champions.
“We felt at home. Everyone who has come to support us at every venue, thank you so much.
“The first two games we lost but the way the team bounced back was unbelievable, credit to my team.”
England’s Moeen Ali said, “This is one of the best days of my career. We deserved it over along period of time, we’ve played some amazing cricket but fell short in the semis last year. Now we have done it against an amazing Pakistan side in front of all these fans.”
