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Sam Curran and Ben Stokes combined to hand England their second T20 World Cup title on Sunday after beating Pakistan by five wickets in the final showdown. First Sam Curran wreaked havoc with a brilliant spell of 3/12 to limit Pakistan to just 137/8 and then when England's innings were reeling, Stokes displayed a rescue act with a bravado of 49-ball 52 to turn the match in his team's favour.
Stokes showed his big match prowess once again with a gritty fifty under extreme pressure to help England to their second T20 World Cup title.
He looked back on the team's memorable campaign.
Meanwhile, former New Zealand skipper and Chennai Super Kings' coach Stephen Fleming lauded Stokes' heroics and termed him a champion who always delivers in pressure.
"He is a big presence; he is a big personality and a big winner. Those are the key ingredients that you need from being a good to a great player. What he is doing is forging a career where he is there in key moments; he wins Test matches, he’d been in some unbelievable battles and you’d back him most times to win them,” Fleming was quoted as saying to ESPNcricinfo.
“So his temperament is so tested and comes through every time that you have got to say he is a champion under pressure. And there’s not many that rise to that occasion as much as he seems to do; he gets in a position where he is the main man and everyone around him feeds off that,” Fleming further added.
Six years ago on a balmy Kolkata night, Stokes had been reduced to a mockery as Carlos Brathwaite hit 4 gigantic sixes to snatch the T20 World Cup away from England's jaws. It was a heart-breaking end for Eoin Morgan's England side, which had turned a corner after their humiliating exit from the group stage of the 2015 ICC World Cup.
Ben Stokes had come a long way from that disappointing night in Kolkata and he held his nerves, with a touch of luck, to tie the final as England went on to win the 2019 World Cup by the slenderest of margins of boundary count, after the Super Over had also ended in a tie.
Meanwhile, in the post match presentation, Stokes said,"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," Stokes, who was also instrumental in England's 2019 World Cup triumph, said after the five-wicket win."
"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," added Stokes.
