History didn’t repeat itself in Melbourne on Sunday. England did not let it. Denying Pakistan an encore of that 1992 World Cup final, Jos Buttler and his troops kept calm and held their nerves to win the decider at the Melbourne Cricket Ground by five wickets on Sunday and emerge T20 World Cup champions for the second time.
Rain, which had been a threat leading up to the final, did not cause any interruption and what transpired was an ideal game of cricket for the 80,000-odd turnout at the MCG.
The victorious English side would owe this triumph to Sam Curran (3/12) and the talismanic Ben Stokes (52 not out off 49 balls), their heroes with the ball and the bat.
Curran, redeeming himself after an ordinary 2021, stood out once again, restricting Pakistan to 137 for 8 after they were put into bat.
More importantly, the leftarm seamer separated Pakistan’s opening combination of Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam — the lifeline of their batting — with only 29 runs on the board. His outside off-stump line made Rizwan drag one back onto the stumps.
And if that wasn’t enough, Curran came back later to dismiss a well-set Shan Masood (38) halfway down the 17th over of Pakistan’s innings. That was a vital blow as Pakistan managed just 16 in the last 3.3 overs of their innings.
Spinner all-rounder Mohammad Nawaz is capable of those meaty blows, but Curran proved to be too smart for him too. Not giving away a single boundary in his entire spell was certainly dream bowling by the 24-year-old, who was adjudged both Man of the Match as well as Man of the Series.
Thereafter, in the run chase, Stokes braved the hiccups and stayed composed till the very end, crafting out yet another crucial knock of his life after the unbeaten 84 in the 2019 (ODI) World Cup final against New Zealand at Lord’s, taking England to glory with an over to spare.
Pak fight
Captain Babar and his men couldn’t quite emulate what the Imran Khan-led side had accomplished three decades ago. But they ought to be applauded for the tremendous fightback in spite of posting a below-par total.
At the halfway stage of their reply, England, at 77 for 3, needed only 61 off the last 60 balls. But the likes of Naseem Shah, Shadab Khan and Haris Rauf were yet to throw in the towel as they conceded only 20 off the next 31 balls with the pressure then back on England.
Unfortunately, Pakistan’s premier bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi, coming back for his second spell in the 16th over — which was his third — left the field after sending down just one delivery. He appeared to have injured his knee while taking the catch of Harry Brook at wide long-off sliding forward.
Pakistan’s inability to utilise Shaheen at that tricky stage, when England required 41 off 29 balls, cost them dear as Stokes and Moeen Ali hammered 26 off eight balls thereafter. There was no looking back for England after that. For sure, it never seemed as if the final would go almost the distance when Buttler was unleashing his trademark strokes.
But the crafty Rauf brought Pakistan back into the contest by dismissing the England captain soon after he had sent Phil Salt back.
Obviously, had Pakistan carved out another 15-20 runs more, they certainly would have made England’s task tougher. But England deserve all the praise. No Mark Wood, no Dawid Malan and yet they excelled.
