England's golden generation of white ball cricketers overcame a spirited Pakistan to lift the T20 World Cup trophy with a comfortable five-wicket victory at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on November 13 (Sunday).
The Pakistani fans were longing for an encore of 1992 when Imran Khan's team created history at this very venue but batting let Babar Azam's side down at 137 for 8 was never going to be good enough.
The seasoned Ben Stokes (52 not out off 49 balls) just like the 2019 ODI World Cup, anchored the chase despite occasional scratchiness and had a calm Moeen Ali (19) as an ideal foil. They chased down the target in 19 overs to regain the title they had won in 2010 in the West Indies.
Experienced Haris Rauf and young Nasim Shah bowled their hearts out to prevent it from becoming a one-sided game but Stokes soaked the pressure along with Ali as the duo put on a 48-run stand for the fifth wicket to nail the win that avenged England's loss to the same rivals in the '92 World Cup final.
Shaheen Shah Afridi also could not bowl his full quota of overs after suffering a hamstring injury while fielding and that too helped England. But player of the evening certainly was left-arm seamer Sam Curran, whose couple of spells had heavily tilted the game in the favour of England.
Former India captain and maverick batter, Virat Kohli reacted to the Three Lions clinching their 2nd T20 World Cup title. Kohli took to Instagram and wrote 'Congratulations England. Well deserved' on his story.
India had crashed out of the multi-national tournament after losing the semi-final by 10 wickets against England, who then completed the job by lifting the glittering silverware.
(With PTI inputs)
