England are the T20 World Cup 2022 champions as they win the final by 5 wickets. This was really a charged on-ground battle. This year’s 2022 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup was the eighth in a series of ICC Men’s T20 World Cup tournament till date. The 2022 edition of the games was played in Australia from 16 October to 13 November 2022.
The Battle Began
Pakistan and England took on each other under the captainship of Babar Azam and Jos Buttler, respectively, in the final of the T20 World Cup 2022 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on November 13 (Sunday). England’s side became stronger with the pacer Mark Wood declared fit for the final encounter. Both the teams faced with a scratchy start at the beginning of T20 World Cup 2022 tournament, with Pakistan losing both of the first two matches against India and Zimbabwe.
Ben Stokes was still at crease and held his nerve high with his unbeaten half-century the time England led to their second T20 World Cup title with a five-wicket spectacular win over Pakistan at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Surprisingly, this win was encountered after a whole 30 years after England side lost the 50-over World Cup final match against Pakistan at the same Melbourne ground. This time England side finished it well with their brilliant death bowling and with Stokes finishing the game with his 52 not out while chasing the score of 138 to win the game.
It was England side who won the toss and decided to field first in the T20 World Cup final against Pakistan. Both teams were the same side that played semi-finals. Pakistan could register a score of 137 in 20 overs.
For his spectacular performance during the T20 World Cup 2022 games, Sam Curran was named both the player of the match (3/12) and the player of the tournament (12 wickets in 6 matches).
Ben Stokes and Sam Curran: Stars of England Win
With Ben Stokes and Sam Curran being star in England’s five wickets win over Pakistan in the T20 World Cup, England has become the cricket’s first dual white-ball champions, holding with them both the 50- and 20-over titles.
Jos Buttler’s side contained Pakistan to 137 for the loss of 8 wickets, with player-of-the-match Curran bagging 3-12 and Adil Rashid almost equally with chipping the England side 2-22.
When England side started to bat they collapsed to 49-3 in the sixth over and struggled withstand the fiery pace attack, with boundaries hardly to be achieved. But it was Stokes (52 not out) and Moeen Ali (19) who put in all their experiences and guided England to the score of 138-5 with 6 balls still to be bowled.
It was England’s second T20 win after 2010, joining the two-time winner West Indies since the start of the T20 mode of cricket in 2007.
This match was seen as Pakistan’s pace attack on England’s top order, and Shaheen Afridi bowled to a danger man Alex Hales in the very first over of the run chasing stage. But Buttler smashed two boundaries off Naseem Shah. Phil Salt, who was playing in place of the injured Dawid Malan, could not last long. He could add to the total only 10 runs before pulling Haris Rauf to Iftikhar Ahmed.
Brook could score only 20 against the spin of Shadab Khan. Now the England side needed 41 runs off the final 5 overs. At this trying time Stokes overly reduced the pressure by his boundary and a six off Ahmed. This paved the way for England’s win over Pakistan, with Stokes hitting the winning runs.
ICC T20 World Cup 2022 Scoreboard
Pakistan: 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: 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